MOTOWN MEMORIES

Part 3: Dave Sallis celebrates the enduring collectability of the earliest Motown 45s.

In March 1965, Motown founder Berry Gordy was confident enough in the company’s future success to establish the Tamla Motown label in Britain. For the previous six years, Motown recordings had been leased to several companies. The success of Mary Wells (My Guy) and The Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go and Baby Love) in 1964, on the Stateside label, was all the incentive he needed to take total control of their output.

This article looks at those formative six years and some of the records that would help establish the company and shape The Motown Sound. All through this series it has been an objective to concentrate on the Company’s unsung artists; this theme continues, although I have taken the opportunity to include a couple of rarer sides by more recognised stars.

Motown’s first releases in the UK were issued by Decca’s London label, and their American Recordings division. It is during this embryonic period that collecting Motown gets very ‘indistinct’; some record catalogues list only four London singles, others list 11. This problem lies with Marv Johnson, one of Berry Gordy’s first signings, but more of that conundrum later. A very short tenure with Phillips subsidiary label Fontana followed an unfruitful 19 months with London. A 12-month association with …

by Dave Sallis
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