Rockwell | |
---|---|
Birth name | Kennedy William Gordy |
Also known as | Kenneth Gordy |
Born | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | March 15, 1964
Genres | |
Occupation | Singer |
Years active | 1983–1986 |
Labels | Motown |
Father | Berry Gordy |
Relatives |
|
Kennedy William Gordy [1] (born March 15, 1964), [2] known professionally as Rockwell, is an American singer. He is best known for his hit 1984 single "Somebody's Watching Me", which features Michael Jackson on chorus vocals. [3] Gordy is the son of Motown founder Berry Gordy. [1] [3] [4] Other relatives include half-siblings Redfoo, Rhonda Ross Kendrick and half-nephew Sky Blu.
Kennedy William Gordy is the son of Motown founder and CEO Berry Gordy and Margaret Norton. His father named him Kennedy William after John F. Kennedy and William "Smokey" Robinson. [5]
To avoid the appearance of nepotism, Gordy secured his record deal without his father's knowledge. [1] Motown proposed the name of Rockwell and Gordy agreed to the change because he believed that he "rocked well." In 1984, Rockwell released his most successful single "Somebody's Watching Me", with childhood friend Michael Jackson singing the chorus lyrics and Jermaine Jackson singing backing vocals. [1] [3] "Somebody's Watching Me" became a RIAA gold-certified [3] #2 song in the U.S. and peaked at #6 in the UK. [6] It held #1 on Billboard's R&B chart for five weeks. Follow-up singles underperformed, and "Obscene Phone Caller" became Rockwell's only other Top 40 single. It reached #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. [7] Rockwell released two more albums before ending his musical career with Motown.
In 2021, "Somebody's Watching Me" re-entered the UK chart, peaking at #47. [6]
Since the 1990s, Rockwell has left music to focus on charity work, such as the Special Olympics, the American Cancer Society, and the United Negro College Fund. [8]
On November 29, 2018, Rockwell was arrested in Hollywood for allegedly beating an associate with a chair at the Magic Castle Hotel after she approached him and demanded payment. Rockwell was released from jail on December 1, 2018, on a $30,000 bail. On January 7, 2019, the woman, who suffered multiple injuries from the attack and had undergone surgery to repair a broken arm, filed a lawsuit against Rockwell in Los Angeles for personal injury, claiming damages exceeding $25,000. [9]
Rockwell is the son of Berry Gordy. Rockwell's paternal half-sister is actress Rhonda Ross Kendrick, the eldest child of Diana Ross. He is also closely related to the group LMFAO through his half-brother Redfoo (Stephen Kendal Gordy, son of Berry Gordy and Nancy Leiviska) and his half-nephew Sky Blu (Skyler Austen Gordy, son of his half-brother Berry Gordy IV and his wife Valerie Robeson).[ citation needed ]
In July 2010, Rockwell married Nicole Moore. In 2013, he filed for divorce. [10]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [7] | US R&B [7] | AUS [11] | CAN [12] | UK [6] | |||
Somebody's Watching Me |
| 15 | 5 | 99 | 34 | 52 | |
Captured |
| 120 | 52 | — | — | — | |
The Genie |
| — | 59 | — | — | — | |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | |||||||
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [7] | US R&B [7] | US Dance [7] | AUS [11] | AUT [14] | CAN [15] | NZ [16] | SWI [17] | UK [6] | ||||||
"Somebody's Watching Me" | 1984 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 6 | Somebody's Watching Me | |||
"Obscene Phone Caller" | 35 | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 79 | |||||
"Taxman" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 88 | |||||
"Knife" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
"He's a Cobra" | 1985 | 108 | 65 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Captured | |||
"Peeping Tom" | — | — | 21 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
"Tokyo" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
"Carmé" | 1986 | — | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Genie | |||
"Grow-Up!" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | ||||||||||||||
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
1978 | Bloodbrothers | Tyrone |
2023 | FITUMI: Fake It til U Make It | Man at table |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1971 | The Doris Day Show | Himself | Episode: "Whodunnit, Doris" |
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Berry Gordy III, also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and its subsidiaries, which was the highest-earning African-American business for decades.
Jermaine LaJuane Jackson is an American singer, songwriter and bassist. He is best known for being a member of the Jackson family. From 1964 to 1975, Jermaine was second vocalist after his brother Michael of the Jackson 5, and played bass guitar. In 1983, he rejoined the group, which had been renamed the Jacksons; he then consistently played in the group's performances and recordings until he left the group again in 2020.
"Somebody's Watching Me" is a song recorded and written by American singer Rockwell, released by the Motown label in December 1983, as the lead single from his debut studio album of the same name. It features guest vocals by Michael Jackson and Jermaine Jackson. The song became a major commercial success internationally, topping the charts in Belgium, France, and Spain, and reaching the top 5 in Canada, West Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. In the UK, it reached No. 6 and is Rockwell's only top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart. Rolling Stone magazine called the song "an international and enduring smash hit that, more than 30 years later, remains the perennial paranoia-rock anthem and Halloween mix go-to song."
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Robert Louis Gordy was an American songwriter, music publishing executive, and recording artist under the stage name Bob Kayli. He released the minor hit song "Everyone Was There" in 1958. He was the brother of Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. and uncle of Redfoo.
Kerry Ashby Gordy is a career music executive, and fourth eldest child of the founder of Motown Records, Berry Gordy. Kerry is the chief executive officer of Kerry Gordy & Associates, Inc. LLC, KGIP Inc., and NuVintage, LLC., intellectual property and branding companies focused on entertainment.
"You've Made Me So Very Happy" is a song written by Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson and Berry Gordy, and was released first as a single in 1967 by Brenda Holloway on the Tamla label. The song was later a huge hit for jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1969, and became a Gold record.
The Gordys are an African-American family of businesspeople and music industry executives. They were born to Georgia-reared parents Berry "Pops" Gordy Sr. and Bertha Gordy and raised in Detroit, where most of the siblings played a pivotal role in the international acceptance of rhythm and blues music as a crossover phenomenon in the 1960s. The accomplishment is attributable to the creation of Motown, a company founded by the seventh-oldest sibling, Berry Gordy Jr..
LMFAO was an American electronic dance music duo consisting of Redfoo and Sky Blu. Redfoo is the youngest son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and Nancy Leiviska. Sky Blu is Gordy's grandson and the son of Redfoo's half-brother, Berry Gordy IV, Gordy's son with his first wife Thelma Coleman.
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Raynoma Mayberry Liles Gordy Singleton was an American R&B producer, songwriter, and vocalist perhaps best known for her association with ex-husband, Berry Gordy during the early days of Motown when she was often known as Miss Ray.
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Skyler Austen Gordy, better known by his stage name Sky Blu, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and dancer. He is known as part of the EDM-hip house duo LMFAO, which he formed with his half-uncle and fellow rapper Redfoo in 2006. The duo are best known for their 2011 singles "Party Rock Anthem" and "Sexy and I Know It," both of which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100. They released two studio albums: Party Rock (2009) and Sorry for Party Rocking (2011) through will.i.am Music Group, an imprint of Interscope Records until their disbandment in 2012. As a solo act, Gordy has released the albums Rebel Music (2013) and Fxck Yeah: Chaos To Consciousness (2016).
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