Though he was quick to credit others’ contributions, Strong’s songwriting was absolutely critical to the label that remade American pop music
Barrett Strong, singer, songwriter and Motown’s first star, dies aged 81
In 1961, after several dud singles in a row, Barrett Strong turned his back on Motown Records. He swapped one factory for another to work on the production line at Chrysler: “I had to take care of my kids,” he reflected later. It was a bitter twist of fate for a singer whose 1959 single Money (That’s What I Want) – Motown’s debut release, later covered by both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones – had sold almost 1m copies.
Born in West Point, Mississippi in 1941, Strong moved with his family to Detroit after the end of the war and played piano in his sisters’ gospel group, the Strong Singers. “My sisters were very pretty girls,” he would reminisce – pretty enough that smitten musicians would often hang at the Strong house, where Barrett led impromptu jam sessions. “That’s how I got to know Jackie Wilson, who brought Mr Gordy over to hear me play,” he said. Mr Gordy was Berry Gordy, a songwriter who would go on to become perhaps the greatest mogul in pop history, founding Motown in 1958. Gordy signed Strong to the nascent label while also serving as his manager, a conflict of interest that was as flagrant as it was commonplace back then.