2011 – On This Day In Rock The White House celebrated the music of Motown Records today with a special concert featuring Motown legends Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson as well as contemporary stars such as Jamie Foxx, Sheryl Crow and Nick Jonas. President Obama held the event as part of an ongoing celebration of Black History Month. Obama referred to Motown’s music as “the soundtrack of the civil rights era.”
2008 – Motown producer and songwriter Norman Whitfield, who helped craft some of the Detroit label’s biggest hits, died Tuesday at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Hospital. He was 65. While an exact cause of death wasn’t revealed, Whitfield reportedly suffered ailments from diabetes. Whitfield started out at Motown as a tambourine player before writing some early hits for Marvin Gaye with lyricist Barrett Strong. One of those songs, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” ended up topping multiple charts and became the label’s biggest hit of the ’60s. Whitfield also worked with the Temptations, co-writing their hits “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” as well as “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” which won Motown its first Grammy. Whitfield left Motown in 1973, forming his own Whitfield Records. The label released the Rose Royce hit “Car Wash,” and later won Whitfield another Grammy in 1977 for the Car Wash soundtrack.
1976 – Stevie Wonder announces he’s signed a $13 million contract with Motown. He makes good on the deal with commercially triumphant and critically celebrated Songs in the Key of Life shortly afterward.
2000 – Motown legend Smokey Robinson joins the ranks of music stars-turned-radio stars when he dons his own on-air persona on Los Angeles station KCMG (Mega 92.3) with the show “Intimate With Smokey Robinson.”
1997 – Lawrence Payton, a member of the Four Tops who gave the Motown group its distinctive harmonies on hits such as “Baby I Need Your Loving” and “Reach Out (I’ll Be There),” dies from liver cancer at the age of 59.
1991 – Rod Stewart’s “Motown Song” reaches its chart pinnacle of No. 10. It’s only slightly worse than the current No. 1: Color Me Badd’s “I Adore Mi Amor.”
1977 – Students at UCLA are shocked when Stevie Wonder appears as a guest lecturer, talking about his experiences with Motown and then performing music by way of illustration.
1971 – Donald McPherson of the Main Ingredient dies of leukemia. Age 29. The group’s biggest hit is the million-selling No. 3 song “Everybody Plays the Fool.” by Aaron Neville.
Much too young!
The group was formed in Harlem, NY in 1964 as a trio called the Poets, composed of lead singer Donald McPherson, Luther Simmons, Jr., and Panama-born Tony Silvester. They made their first recordings for Leiber & Stoller’s Red Bird label, but soon changed their name to the Insiders and signed with RCA. After a couple of singles, they changed their name once again in 1966, this time permanently to the Main Ingredient.
Nothing much happened until the Main Ingredient hooked up with producer Bert DeCoteaux, who had an excellent sense of the lush, orchestrated direction soul music would take in the early ’70s. Under his direction, the Main Ingredient reached the R&B Top 30 for the first time in 1970 with “You’ve Been My Inspiration.” Things grew steadily from there; a cover of the Impressions’ “I’m So Proud” broke the Top 20, and “Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling in Love)” went Top Ten. They scored again with the McPherson-penned black power anthem “Black Seeds Keep on Growing,” but tragedy struck in 1971: McPherson, who had suddenly taken ill with leukemia, died unexpectedly. Stunned, Silvester and Simmons regrouped with new lead singer Cuba Gooding, Sr., who’d served as a backing vocalist on some of their previous recordings and had filled in on tour during McPherson’s brief illness.
The Gooding era began auspiciously enough with the million-selling smash “Everybody Plays the Fool,” which hit number two R&B and number three pop to become the group’s biggest hit ever. The accompanying album, aptly titled Bitter Sweet, became their first to hit the Top Ten on the R&B charts; its follow-up, 1973′s Afrodisiac, featured several songs written or co-written by Stevie Wonder, although it didn’t produce any huge successes on the singles charts. They peaked at number eight on the R&B chart in 1974 with “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely,” which sold over a million copies and also reached number ten on the pop chart, and the disco-flavored “Happiness Is Just Around the Bend,” which did not. In 1975, the group recorded several songs co-written by Leon Ware, including the R&B Top Ten “Rolling Down a Mountainside.” By this point, however, Silvester was harboring other ambitions; he released a solo album called Magic Touch that year, and left the group to form a production team with Bert DeCoteaux.
Later Years
Silvester was replaced by Carl Tompkins, but the chemistry wasn’t the same, and Gooding departed for a solo career on Motown in 1977, which produced two albums; Simmons, meanwhile, left music to work as a stockbroker. Gooding, Silvester, and Simmons reunited as the Main Ingredient in 1979, and cut two more albums, 1980′s Ready for Love and 1981′s I Only Have Eyes for You (the latter featured a minor hit in “Evening of Love”). The trio reunited for a second time in 1986, but their Zakia single “Do Me Right” flopped, and Simmons returned to his day job. He was replaced by Jerome Jackson on the 1989 Polydor album I Just Wanna Love You. In the wake of Aaron Neville’s Top Ten revival of “Everybody Plays the Fool,” Gooding resumed his solo career and issued his third album in 1993. Silvester and Simmons re-formed the Main Ingredient in 1999 with new lead singer Carlton Blount; this lineup recorded Pure Magic in 2001. Gooding’s son is, of course, Cuba Gooding, Jr., the actor best known for his Oscar-winning performance in Jerry Maguire.
Silvester died on November 27, 2006, at the age of 65.
Discography
Albums
* 1971: Black Seeds (RCA) – US #176, R&B #35
* 1971: Tasteful Soul (RCA) – US #146, R&B #26
* 1972: Bitter Sweet (RCA) – US #79, R&B #10
* 1973: Afrodisiac (RCA) – US #132, R&B #16
* 1974: Euphrates River (RCA) – US #52, R&B #8
* 1974: Greatest Hits (RCA) – R&B #32
* 1975: Rolling Down a Mountainside (RCA) – US #90, R&B #3
* 1976: Shame on the World (RCA) – US #158, R&B #27
* 1976: Super Hits (RCA) – R&B #46
* 1977: Music Maximus (RCA) – US #177
* 1980: Ready for Love (RCA) – R&B #69
* 1981: I Only Have Eyes For You (RCA)
* 1989: I Just Wanna Love You (Polydor) – R&B #59
* 2001: Pure Magic (Magnatar)
* 2005: Everybody Plays the Fool: The Best of the Main Ingredient (RCA/Legacy)
Singles
* 1970: “I’m Better Off Without You” – US #91
* 1970: “You’ve Been My Inspiration” – US #64, R&B #25
* 1971: “Black Seeds Keep On Growing” – US #97, R&B #15
* 1971: “I’m So Proud” – US #49, R&B #13
* 1971: “Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling In Love)” – US #52, R&B #7
* 1972: “Everybody Plays the Fool” – US #3, R&B #2
* 1973: “Girl Blue” – R&B #51
* 1973: “You Can Call Me Rover” – R&B #34
* 1973: “You’ve Got To Take It (If You Want It)” – US #46, R&B #18
* 1974: “California My Way” – US #75, R&B #48
* 1974: “Happiness Is Just Around The Bend” – US #35, R&B #7
* 1974: “Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely” – US #10, R&B #8
* 1975: “Rolling Down a Mountainside” – US #92, R&B #7
* 1975: “The Good Old Days” – R&B #45
* 1976: “Instant Love” – R&B #96
* 1976: “Shame On The World” – R&B #20
* 1986: “Do Me Right” – R&B #75
* 1989: “I Just Wanna Love” – R&B #15
* 1990: “Nothing’s Too Good For My Baby” – R&B #29
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