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Suzee Ikeda | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Susan Wendy Ikeda |
| Born | August 25, 1947 |
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois, US |
| Genres | pop, disco |
| Occupation(s) | singer, producer |
| Instrument(s) | vocals |
| Years active | 1970's–1980's |
| Labels | Motown |
Suzee Ikeda is an American singer who was the first Asian-American solo artist at Motown. However, she is best known for her work "behind the scenes" at Motown with such acts as Michael Jackson and The Temptations.
Born Susan Wendy Ikeda on August 25, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of a Japanese father and an American mother.
Initially assigned to Mowest, Motown's subsidiary label, her first single was a cover version of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" from the Disney film, Song of the South. The single failed to chart.
In April 1973, Suzee released her first single on the Motown label, a ballad written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel called, "Time For Me to Go." Unfortunately, the single and her solo career went nowhere.[ citation needed ]
During her tenure at Motown she was described as a "creative confidant" of Michael Jackson. "Michael Jackson could make you forget he was so young," writes Suzee Ikeda, in her introductory essay to Hello World: The Complete Motown Solo Collection. [1]
Ikeda's rapport with artists soon led to a new role behind the scenes as a production executive for the company. One of her early projects was the A Song for You album by The Temptations, released in 1975.
In 1983, Ikeda became one of the principal players in Super Three, a division of Motown responsible for developing new and existing acts. Other participants in the partnership were off again-on again Motown figure Ray Singleton and Guy Costa (nephew of musician and arranger Don Costa), the latter who served as the entity's creative director. [2]
| Release | Single | Cat. # |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1971 | "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" b/w "Bah Bah Bah" | MoWest 5004 [3] |
| Jun 1972 | "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel For You" b/w "Mind, Body & Soul" | MoWest 5016 [3] |
| Apr 1973 | "A Time For Me to Go" b/w "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" | Motown 1237 [4] |
| Release Date | Album | Artist(s) or Group | Capacity(ies) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1973 | Diana & Marvin | Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye | Production Coordination; Production Assistant |
| Jan 1975 | A Song for You | The Temptations | Producer |
| 1980 | Jose Feliciano | Jose Feliciano | Producer |
| 1982 | Reunion | The Temptations | Producer |
| Sep 1983 | Commodores 13 | The Commodores | Project Manager |
| 1986 | Dancing on the Ceiling | Lionel Richie | Engineer; Background vocals |
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered.
Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is a 1983 television special, produced by Suzanne de Passe for Motown Records, to commemorate Motown's 25th year. 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 co-written by de Passe with Ruth Adkins Robinson, who would go on to write shows with de Passe for the next 25 years, including the follow-up label tributes—through "Motown 40", Buz Kohan was the head writer.
"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.
"It's Your Thing" is a funk single by The Isley Brothers. Released in 1969, the anthem was an artistic response to Motown chief Berry Gordy's demanding hold on his artists after the Isleys left the label in late 1968.
Got to Be There is the debut solo studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown on January 24, 1972, four weeks after the Jackson 5's Greatest Hits (1971). It includes the song of the same name, which was released on October 7, 1971, as Jackson's debut solo single.
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.
Music & Me is the third studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released on April 13, 1973 on the Motown label. The album was reissued in 2009 as part of the three-disc compilation Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection.
Forever, Michael is the fourth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown Records on January 16, 1975. The album is credited as having songs with funk and soul material. Eddie Holland, Brian Holland, Hal Davis, Freddie Perren, and Sam Brown III served as producers on Forever, Michael. It is the final album before Jackson's solo breakthrough with his next album, Off the Wall (1979).
That Stubborn Kinda Fellow is the second studio album by Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label in 1963. The second LP Gaye released on the label, it also produced his first batch of successful singles for the label and established Gaye as one of the label's first hit-making acts in its early years.
House Party is a 1975 album released by the American R&B vocal group, the Temptations, on Motown Records' Gordy label.
The Temptations Do the Temptations is an album by the Temptations, released in 1976 via Gordy Records. The Temptations' Motown contract was terminated after the release of the album.
"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.
Looking Back to Yesterday is a 1986 compilation album featuring tracks from singer Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5. As part of Motown's Never-Before-Released series, all songs were previously unreleased except for "Love's Gone Bad" and "I Was Made to Love Her"; alternate versions were released in 1979 on the Motown Jackson 5 compilation Boogie.
Motown Chartbusters is a series of compilation albums first released by EMI under licence on the Tamla Motown label in Britain. In total, 12 editions were released in the UK between 1967 and 1982. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally called British Motown Chartbusters; after this the title Motown Chartbusters was used.
The Jackson 5, later the Jacksons, is an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most of their career 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.
Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection is a 71-track triple disc box set commemorating Michael Jackson's early years with Motown Records. The album features Jackson's four solo LPs from Motown, plus songs that were released after he left the label.
"Twenty-Five Miles" is a song written by Johnny Bristol, Harvey Fuqua, and Edwin Starr for Starr's second album, 25 Miles (1969). The song was considered sufficiently similar to "32 Miles out of Waycross" by Hoagy Lands, written by Bert Berns and Jerry Wexler, that Berns and Wexler were eventually given co-writing credits. Essentially the same theme also appeared in late 1959 in the approaching miles section of the lyrics of Jimmie Rodgers' "Tucumcari".
Joyful Jukebox Music is a compilation album by American music group the Jackson 5, released by the Motown label on October 26, 1976, after the band had left the label. This is the third compilation released by the group, after Greatest Hits (1971) and Anthology (1976), yet the first to be entirely composed of previously unreleased material, recorded between 1972 and 1975. The compilation was released less than two weeks before the group's debut on their new label Epic Records.
Suzee had proved her stuff over the years...
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