Motown Magic | |
---|---|
Genre | |
Created by | Josh Wakely |
Directed by | Josh Wakely |
Opening theme | "ABC" performed by Zacary James and Motown Magic Cast |
Ending theme | "ABC" performed by Zacary James and Motown Magic Cast |
Composer | |
Country of origin | United States Australia |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 51 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producer | Josh Wakely |
Running time | 15 minutes |
Production companies | Grace - A Storytelling Company Beyond Entertainment PolyGram Entertainment EMI Music Publishing Sony-ATV Music Publishing |
Original release | |
Network | Netflix 7TWO (Australia) |
Release | November 20, 2018 – June 28, 2019 |
Motown Magic is an animated children's television series, created by Josh Wakely, and produced for Netflix. The series follows Ben, described by Netflix as "a wide-eyed 8-year-old with a big heart and an amazing imagination", who uses a magic paintbrush to bring the street art in Motown to life. Wakely acquired worldwide rights from the music of Motown to feature in the series. The program features versions of songs by the popular record label, performed by contemporary recording artists and interwoven into the narrative. Motown hits that are recorded in the series are from such performers as The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. [1] [2]
The series was first made available worldwide on Netflix on November 20, 2018. [3]
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "It's Easy as ABC" | Josh Wakely | John Armstrong | November 20, 2018 |
2 | 2 | "Dancing Machine" | Josh Wakely | Cleon Prineas | November 20, 2018 |
3 | 3 | "Jimmy Mack" | Josh Wakely | Joe Ansolabehere | November 20, 2018 |
4 | 4 | "My Girl" | Josh Wakely | Story by: Joe Ansolabehere Written by: John Armstrong | November 20, 2018 |
5 | 5 | "Mickey's Monkey" | Josh Wakely | Erica Harrison | November 20, 2018 |
6 | 6 | "Happy Birthday" | Josh Wakely | Michael Carrington | November 20, 2018 |
7 | 7 | "Dancing in the Street" | Josh Wakely | Jennifer Skelly | November 20, 2018 |
8 | 8 | "Money (That’s What I Want)" | Josh Wakely | Cleon Prineas | November 20, 2018 |
9 | 9 | "Master Blaster" | Josh Wakely | Joe Ansolabehere and Cleon Prineas | November 20, 2018 |
10 | 10 | "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" | Josh Wakely | Michael Carrington | November 20, 2018 |
11 | 11 | "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | November 20, 2018 |
12 | 12 | "Ben" | Josh Wakely | Charlotte Rose Hamlyn | November 20, 2018 |
13 | 13 | "(Love Is Like a) Heatwave" | Josh Wakely | Jonathan Rosenthal and Charlotte Rose Hamlyn | November 20, 2018 |
14 | 14 | "War" | Josh Wakely | Henry "Hank" Jones | November 20, 2018 |
15 | 15 | "The Tracks of My Tears" | Josh Wakely | Charlotte Rose Hamlyn | July 24, 2023 |
16 | 16 | "Road Runner" | Josh Wakely | Doreen Spicer-Dannelly and Cleon Prineas | November 20, 2018 |
17 | 17 | "Smiling Faces Sometimes" | Josh Wakely | Henry "Hank" Jones | November 20, 2018 |
18 | 18 | "Twenty-Five Miles" | Josh Wakely | Cleon Prineas | November 20, 2018 |
19 | 19 | "Skywriter" | Josh Wakely | Erica Harrison | November 20, 2018 |
20 | 20 | "Runaway Child, Running Wild" | Josh Wakely | Denise Downer | November 20, 2018 |
21 | 21 | "Don't Mess with Bill" | Josh Wakely | Joe Ansolabehere and Cleon Prineas | November 20, 2018 |
22 | 22 | "Stop in the Name of Love" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | November 20, 2018 |
23 | 23 | "I Wish" | Josh Wakely | Henry "Hank" Jones | November 20, 2018 |
24 | 24 | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" | Josh Wakely | Doreen Spicer-Dannelly and Cleon Prineas | November 20, 2018 |
25 | 25 | "For Once in My Life" | Josh Wakely | Jennifer Skelly | November 20, 2018 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
26 | 1 | "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" | Josh Wakely | Charlotte Rose Hamlyn | June 28, 2019 |
27 | 2 | "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
28 | 3 | "Superstition" | Josh Wakely | Charlotte Rose Hamlyn and Erica Harrison | June 28, 2019 |
29 | 4 | "How Funky Is Your Chicken" | Josh Wakely | Charlotte Rose Hamlyn and Cleon Prineas | June 28, 2019 |
30 | 5 | "Skate to the Rhythm" | Josh Wakely | Henry "Hank" Jones | June 28, 2019 |
31 | 6 | "My Guy" | Josh Wakely | Charlotte Rose Hamlyn | June 28, 2019 |
32 | 7 | "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" | Josh Wakely | Charlotte Rose Hamlyn | June 28, 2019 |
33 | 8 | "I Wish It Would Rain" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
34 | 9 | "Somebody's Watching Me" | Josh Wakely | Henry "Hank" Jones | June 28, 2019 |
35 | 10 | "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
36 | 11 | "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
37 | 12 | "I'll Be Doggone" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
38 | 13 | "He's Misstra Know-It-All" | Josh Wakely | Jennifer Skelly | June 28, 2019 |
39 | 14 | "You Can't Hurry Love" | Josh Wakely | Jennifer Skelly | June 28, 2019 |
40 | 15 | "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
41 | 16 | "Agent Double O Soul" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
42 | 17 | "You Haven't Done Nothin'" | Josh Wakely | Charlotte Rose Hamlyn | June 28, 2019 |
43 | 18 | "Christmas Everyday" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
44 | 19 | "Don't Let the Joneses Get You Down" | Josh Wakely | Henry "Hank" Jones | June 28, 2019 |
45 | 20 | "Keep on Truckin'" | Josh Wakely | Jennifer Skelly | June 28, 2019 |
46 | 21 | "Easy" | Josh Wakely | Henry "Hank" Jones | June 28, 2019 |
47 | 22 | "Reach Out I'll Be There" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
48 | 23 | "I Want You Back" | Josh Wakely | Henry "Hank" Jones | June 28, 2019 |
49 | 24 | "Nowhere to Run" | Josh Wakely | Charlotte Rose Hamlyn | June 28, 2019 |
50 | 25 | "Higher Ground" | Josh Wakely | Erica Harrison | June 28, 2019 |
51 | 26 | "Living for the City" | Josh Wakely | Josh Mapleston | June 28, 2019 |
Motown Magic received favourable reviews. Critics praised the concept of reimagining Motown songs for a young audience. [4]
The first soundtrack to the show was released on online music-streaming service Apple Music on November 20, 2018. [5]
Diana Ross is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. They remain the best-charting female group in history, with a total of 12 number-one pop singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, including "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", "Come See About Me", "Stop! In the Name of Love", "You Keep Me Hangin' On", and "Love Child".
Boyz II Men is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formed in 1985, they have been a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris alongside tenors Wanyá Morris and Shawn Stockman since 2003. During the 1990s, Boyz II Men was a quartet with bass singer, Michael McCary, who left the group in 2003 due to health issues that were diagnosed as multiple sclerosis.
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time.
"My Girl" is a song recorded by the Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) record label. Written and produced by the Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, it became the Temptations' first U.S. number 1 single, and is considered their signature song. Robinson's inspiration for writing "My Girl" was his wife, Miracles member Claudette Rogers Robinson. The song was included on the Temptations 1965 album The Temptations Sing Smokey. In 2017, the song was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is a 1983 television special, produced by Suzanne de Passe for Motown, to commemorate its 25th anniversary. The program was taped before a live audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on March 25, 1983, and broadcast on NBC on May 16. Among its highlights were Michael Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean", Smokey Robinson's reunion with the Miracles, a Temptations / Four Tops "battle of the bands", Marvin Gaye's inspired speech about black music history and his memorable performance of "What's Going On", a Jackson 5 reunion, and an abbreviated reunion of Diana Ross & the Supremes, who performed their final #1 hit, "Someday We'll Be Together" from 1969. The show was written by Buz Kohan, Ruth Robinson, and de Passe. The broadcast was watched by over 47 million viewers.
"What's Going On" is a song by American singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye, released in 1971 on the Motown subsidiary Tamla. It is the opening track of Gaye's studio album of the same name. Originally inspired by a police brutality incident witnessed by Renaldo "Obie" Benson, the song was composed by Benson, Al Cleveland, and Gaye and produced by Gaye himself. The song marked Gaye's departure from the Motown Sound towards more personal material. Later topping the Hot Soul Singles chart for five weeks and crossing over to number two on the Billboard Hot 100, it would sell over two million copies, becoming Gaye's second-most successful Motown song to date. It was ranked at number 4 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of all Time in 2004 and 2010.
"Got to Give It Up" is a song by American music artist Marvin Gaye. Written by the singer and produced by Art Stewart as a response to a request from Gaye's record label that he perform disco music, it was released in March 1977.
Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 is the debut studio album from by the American soul family band The Jackson 5. It was released on December 12, 1969 by Motown. The Jackson 5's lead singer, a preadolescent Michael Jackson and his four older brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon, became pop successes within months of this album's release. Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5's only single, "I Want You Back", became a number-one hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 within weeks of the album's release. The album reached number 5 on the US Pop Albums chart, and spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the US R&B/Black Albums charts. To date, the Jackson 5's debut album has sold estimated 5 million copies worldwide.
"Ben" is a song written by Don Black and Walter Scharf for the 1972 film of the same name. It was performed by Lee Montgomery in the film and by Michael Jackson over the closing credits. Jackson's single, recorded for the Motown label in 1972, spent one week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, making it Jackson's first number one single in the US as a solo artist. Billboard ranked it as the number 20 song for 1972. It also reached number 1 on the ARIA Charts, spending eight weeks at the top spot. The song also later reached a peak of number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2004, the song appeared in The Ultimate Collection.
Ben is the second studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown Records on August 4, 1972, while Jackson was still a member of the Jackson 5. It received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. Ben, however, was more successful on the music charts than Jackson's previous studio album, peaking within the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. Internationally, the album was less successful, peaking at number 12 in Canada, while charting within the top 200 positions in Australia and France.
Warren Thomas "Pete" Moore was an American singer-songwriter and record producer, notable as the bass singer for Motown group the Miracles from 1955 onwards, and was one of the group's original members. He is also a 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, and a BMI and ASCAP award-winning songwriter, and was the vocal arranger on all of the group's hits.
American singer Michael Jackson (1958–2009) released ten studio albums, five soundtrack albums, fifty-five compilation albums, ten video albums and seven remix albums. Since his death, two albums of unreleased tracks have been posthumously released. Jackson made his debut in 1964 at the age of five with The Jackson 5, who were prominent performers during the 1970s. Jackson is one of the best-selling music artists in history with over 500 million records sold worldwide. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Jackson has sold 89 million certified albums in the United States.
"I Wanna Be Where You Are" is a song written by Arthur "T-Boy" Ross and Leon Ware for Michael Jackson, who took the song to number 7 in Cash Box and number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. It also reached number 2 on the Billboard R&B singles chart in 1972.
"Happy" is a song written by Michel Legrand and Smokey Robinson and first recorded by Bobby Darin. The song was first released as a single by Bobby Darin on November 23, 1972, peaking #67 on the Billboard Hot 100, it was his last single to hit the chart. The song was included on his posthumous Motown LP Darin: 1936–1973.
The Jackson 5, later known as the Jacksons, are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was formed in Gary, Indiana in 1964, and originally consisted of brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael. They were managed by their father Joe Jackson. The group were among the first African American performers to attain a crossover following.
Michael Jackson's This Is It is a posthumous two-disc soundtrack album by American singer Michael Jackson. Released by MJJ Music on October 26, 2009, This Is It features previously released music, as well as six previously unreleased recordings by Jackson. This Is It was released to coincide with the theatrical release of Michael Jackson's This Is It, a concert film documenting Jackson's rehearsals for the This Is It concert series at the O2 Arena in London. This Is It is the sixth album to be released by Sony and Motown/Universal since Jackson's death on June 25, 2009.
Motown: The Musical is a jukebox musical that premiered on Broadway in April 2013. The musical is based on Berry Gordy's autobiography To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown (1994), and on the history of his founding and running of the Motown record label, and his personal and professional relationships with Motown artists such as Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson. The production's music and lyrics are taken from selections from the Motown catalog. It received four nominations at the 67th Tony Awards.
Benjamin Schiff Platt is an American actor and singer. The son of film and theater producer Marc Platt and philanthropist Julie Platt, he began his acting career in musical theater as a child and appeared in productions of The Sound of Music (2006) and The Book of Mormon (2012–2015), rising to prominence for originating the title role in the Broadway coming-of-age musical Dear Evan Hansen (2015–2017). His performance in the latter earned him multiple accolades, including the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, a Daytime Emmy, and a Grammy Award. Platt reprised the role of Evan Hansen in the 2021 film adaptation of the musical, produced by his father. He then played Leo Frank in the 2022 New York City Center Gala production of Parade, which transferred to Broadway in 2023 and earned him another Tony nomination and another Grammy nomination.
Sofía LaurenDaccarett Char, known professionally as Sofia Carson, is an American actress and singer. Her first appearance on television was as a guest star on the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally (2014). In 2015, she received recognition as Evie, the daughter of the Evil Queen, in the Disney musical fantasy film Descendants, and later reprised her role in its sequels. She has since starred in the Netflix romantic drama film Purple Hearts (2022) and thriller film Carry-On (2024).
Josh Wakely is an Australian director, screenwriter, and producer and the founder of the television and film production company Grace: A Storytelling Company. Wakely is principally engaged in the development and production of feature films and series based on the music publishing catalogues of prominent music artists and genres, including The Beatles, Motown, and Bob Dylan and other artists in the Universal Music Group library of recorded master and publishing catalogues.