Back in the mid-’60s, Berry Gordy Jr. commissioned Smokey Robinson to pen the “Motown Company Song,” which declared the iconic record label “a very swinging company.”
Motown has indeed been swinging through its 60th anniversary celebration this year, which has already included a Grammy Salute special on CBS. The party moves to Showtime with Hitsville: The Making of Motown, a documentary debuting Aug. 24 on Showtime. Premieres were held earlier this month in Los Angeles and on Friday night (Aug. 23) when about 20 Motown alumni — including members of the Vandellas, the Velvelettes and the Contours as well as behind-the-scenes staffers — and guests gathered for an invitation-only screening hosted by the Motown Museum in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak.
“There’s a good vibe to the film,” Funk Brothers guitarist Dennis Coffey, whose guitar licks for the Temptations “Cloud Nine” and “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” were heard during the film, told Billboard afterwards. “Everyone involved told a good story about Berry’s vision and how it came to fruition.” Longtime Motown executive Miller London, whose eight hours of interviews with the filmmakers turned into a few minutes in the final cut, added that, “I thought it’s the first time I’ve ever seen the story told so right about Berry and what he did here. It’s impossible to tell it all in two hours, but they did a good job.”
Claudette Robinson of the Miracles — known as the First Lady of Motown — saw Hitsville for a second time on Friday and found it just as exciting. “It caught the spirit, and there were times it was also emotional,” she said. “We were teenagers when this all happened; Now I’m a grandmother.”
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