| Motown High | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Barbara Hager |
Release date |
|
| Country | Canada |
Motown High is a documentary by Canadian director Barbara Hager about a group of talented Canadian high school students who develop a musical bond with their idol, Motown diva Martha Reeves, after they meet her on a school band trip to Detroit. The documentary was the opening film at the 2008 Victoria Film Festival.
The documentary was shot over a two-year period starting in April 2005 when the Vic High R&B Band first met Martha after she accepted an invitation from Victoria High School band teacher Eric Emde to meet the students in Detroit. Ms. Reeves was so impressed by the student's dedication to the Motown sound, that she decided to mentor them after seeing them perform at Northwestern High School in Detroit.
Two months after meeting Martha in Detroit, the Canadian students invited her to Victoria. She accepted and spent three days with the Vic High R&B Band—presenting a Motown workshop, revealing stories about her life as a Motown star and joining them on stage at a local nightclub.
A year later, Martha was invited to headline the Victoria International Jazz Festival and she immediately called Eric to see if the students would perform with her. For a group of 15- to 19-year-olds, the opportunity to perform with a Motown legend was both exciting and terrifying. The timing couldn't have been worse. Four of the band's lead singers were about to graduate, and the daily band rehearsals competed with final exams and graduation ceremonies.
Two days before the concert, Martha arrived with her musical director Alonza McKenzie and the students had to re-learn many of the songs they will perform with her because they had learned them in the wrong key or with different endings.
Motown High is structured around the final two weeks of the school year at Victoria High School. The documentary mixes cinema verite, performance and interview footage to build a story about dreams and how young musicians can be profoundly influenced by their mentors and teachers.
The documentary is a celebration of musical mentoring by a high school teacher and a Motown superstar who are committed to grooming these gifted students into professional musicians.
A one-hour version of the documentary, Sounds Like Motown, has been licensed to Bravo! in Canada.
Trailer: http://www.aarrowentertainment.com
Vic High sets Motown jumpin' Michael D. Reid, Times Colonist Published: Tuesday, October 23, 2007
 | This article about a music-related documentary film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article related to a Canadian documentary film of the 2000s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful American vocal band, with 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland. It is said that their breakthrough made it possible for future African-American R&B and soul musicians to find mainstream success. Billboard ranked the Supremes as the 16th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time.
Martha and the Vandellas were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown.
Florence Glenda Chapman was an American singer and a founding member of the Motown vocal female group the Supremes. She sang on 16 top 40 singles with the group, including ten number-one hits. After being removed from the Supremes in 1967, Ballard tried an unsuccessful solo career with ABC Records before she was dropped from the label at the end of the decade.
Martha Rose Reeves is an American R&B and pop singer. She is best known for being the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas, which scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Come and Get These Memories", "Nowhere to Run", "Heat Wave", "Jimmy Mack", and their signature "Dancing in the Street". From 2005 until 2009, Reeves served as an elected councilwoman in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Reeves at number 151 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
James Ambrose Johnson Jr., better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in his teenage years. He was in various bands before entering the U.S. Navy Reserve to avoid being drafted into the army. In 1964, James moved to Toronto, Canada, where he formed the rock band The Mynah Birds, who eventually signed a recording deal with Motown Records in 1966. James's career with the group halted after military authorities discovered his whereabouts and eventually convicted him of desertion related charges. He served several months in jail. After being released, James moved to California, where he started a variety of rock and funk groups in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
Dianne Elizabeth Reeves is an American jazz singer.
Syreeta Wright, who recorded professionally under the mononym Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights were songs in collaboration with her ex-husband Stevie Wonder and musical artist Billy Preston.
Cass Technical High School is a magnet high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1907 and is part of the Detroit Public Schools Community District. It is named after Lewis Cass.
"Dancing in the Street" is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William Stevenson, and Ivy Jo Hunter. It first became popular in 1964 when recorded by Martha and the Vandellas whose version reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks, behind "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann and it also peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.
"Heat Wave" is a 1963 song written by the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team. It was first made popular by the Motown vocal group Martha and the Vandellas, who issued it as a single on July 10, 1963, on the Motown subsidiary Gordy label. The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot R&B chart—where it stayed for four weeks—and peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Rosalind "Roz" Ashford-Holmes is an American soprano R&B and soul singer, known for her work as an original member of the Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas.
Erin Gruwell is an American teacher known for her unique teaching method, which led to the publication of The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them (1999). The 2007 film Freedom Writers and the 2019 PBS documentary Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart are based on her story.
Annette Beard, also known as Annette Helton or Annette Sterling, is an American R&B and soul singer. Beard is best known for her work with Motown and as an original member of the singing group Martha and the Vandellas during the 1960s. Beard is currently known as a member of the singing group The Original Vandellas.
Gloria Williams was an American singer notable for being the original lead singer of an early incarnation of Martha and the Vandellas under the name The Del-Phis.
Betty Kelly, also known as Betty Kelley, is an American singer most noted as being a member of the popular Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas.
Sandra Delores Reeves, better known as Lois Reeves, is an American singer, most notable for being the younger sister of Motown legend Martha Reeves, for having replaced popular Martha and the Vandellas member Betty Kelly as member of her sister's group in 1967, and for later singing background for records by Al Green in the 1970s as a member of the backing group Quiet Elegance. Lois' nickname was "Pee Wee" as she is only 5'1" tall.
Carla L. Benson is an American vocalist known for her recorded background vocals.
Lottie "The Body"Tatum-Graves-Claiborne was an American burlesque dancer who performed from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. She was given the nickname "Lottie the Body" when she was a teenager working in modeling. She also became known as the "Black Gypsy Rose Lee" and the "Gypsy Rose Lee of Detroit." Born and raised in New York, her career in burlesque began in San Francisco, and later she moved to Detroit. Lottie was renowned for her support of other exotic dancers, musicians, and entertainers. During her lengthy career, she worked throughout the U.S. and in numerous other countries, performing with many of the great singers, comedians, musicians, and dancers of her era.
An acting coach or drama coach is a teacher who trains performers – typically film, television, theatre, and musical theatre actors – and gives them advice and mentoring to enable them to improve their acting and dramatic performances, prepare for auditions and prepare better for roles.