Original subtitles

Berry Gordy started Tamla Records- later known as the Motown Record Corporation-

with an $800 loan from a family co-operative in january 1959.

Berry Gordy relied on joe Hunter to bring talent to Motown.

At the time of filming, Joe was indeed still playing...

albeit in obscurity, in a Marriott Hotel lobby in Troy, Michigan.

The music heard is The Funk Brothers' stage theme song, "The Flick. "

They recorded several versions in the fall of 1965.

The Hula Hoop was introduced by Wham-O Manufacturing in 1958.

Rightfielder Al Kaline was the Detroit Tigers premiere player in the '50s.

Singer Billie Holiday was known as "Lady Day," a great favorite of Berry Gordy.

He would later produce a film on her life starring Motown artist Diana Ross.

Before Motown, Berry Gordy was a successful songwriter forjackie Wilson.

Gerald Levert performs "Reach Out I'll Be There,"

originally a number one hit for the Four Tops.

The Funk Brothers recorded the original backing track on july 8, 1966.

An astounding track, "Reach Out" illustrates james jamerson's...

fully developed 16th-note syncopated bass style.

Jamerson took a standard, root-fifth, cocktail approach to his bass part...

and ran it through countless rhythmic variations.

Gerald Levert is the son of Eddie Levert, lead singer of the O'jays.

He was born the year "Reach Out" was a hit.

The song's percussion hook was played by a Funk

Brother thumping the head of a "bell-less" tambourine...

while its memorable piccolo part is re-created

on stage by its originator, Dayna Hartwick.

This sequence was filmed at the Encore record store on

the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The people interviewed are actual store customers, not actors.

Paul Riser was classically trained. He is best known

as an arranger of hits like "My Girl," among others.

Grammy winner Stevejordan worked with Bootsy Collins in the film.

He got his break as the drummer on Late Night with David Letterman.

Songwriter Edward Holland began his career as

a singer, best known for his 1962 hit, "jamie. "

Detroit native Don Was covered the Temptations' "Papa

Was A Rollin' Stone" with the group, Was (Not Was).

As a young musician, he gigged with Funk Brother "Pistol" Allen.

In 1962, Martha Reeves was discovered at the 20 Grand

nightclub by Motown's A&R head, Mickey Stevenson.

She worked as his secretary before signing as a singer.

Therefore, she was one of the few Motown artists to interact with the musicians.

Photo: Motown producer Hank Cosby, pretending to bejack Ashford...

stands between Robert White (guitar) and james jamerson (bass).

Joan Osborne sings "(Love Is Like A) Heatwave... "

originally a number four hit for Martha

& The Vandellas in the summer of 1963.

The Funk Brothers recorded its original backing track with producers...

Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier on june 20, 1963.

Joan Osborne released How Sweet It Is, an

entire album of R&B classics, in 2002.

Tom Scott plays here; Mike Terry, who blew many such classic sax breaks for Motown...

played on the original recording.

By '63, Motown's chief technician Mike McLean

had installed a handmade, three-track tape deck.

Now, lead vocals were overdubbed, and the Funks would

record not knowing for whom their tracks were intended.

For "Heatwave," the Vandellas recorded vocals on the

same day as the Funks, but at a session later in the day.

In 1955, Black Detroiters had the highest per

capita income among African Americans nationwide.

Yet at that time, African Americans earned

about 33 cents to every dollar earned by whites.

The Bel-Aire was the most popular Chevy in the 1950s.

Joe Hunter worked a drill press at Chevrolet outside Detroit...

after an Army stint with Earl Van Dyke at the Lockburn base in Ohio.

Baker's, located at the intersection of 8 Mile Road and Livernois...

has been a Detroit jazz institution for over 50 years.

Berry Gordy hung the sign "Hitsville U.S.A." on his house...

at 2648 West Grand Boulevard before Motown had any hits.

Motown used to store master tapes in Smokey's basement...

until flooding forced Motown to set up a tape library at Hitsville.

Jamerson was told to play the bass because he had big hands.

Jamerson got his first and only upright bass

for about $200 after graduating from high school.

Jamerson switched to electric Fender bass in 1961.

Jamerson jr. had a hit band on his own, Chanson...

whose "Don't Hold Back" was a Top 10 R&B smash in 1978.

Jamerson only changed his strings if they broke. He used LaBella flat wounds-

a "dead" sound with a heavy bottom, a challenge for Motown's engineers.

Jamerson's bass and all the guitarists were plugged directly

into the mix board via the gray box with meters on it.

It is located just to the lower left of the control booth window.

Hitsville U.S.A. is now the site of the Motown Historical

Museum, run by Ms. Esther Edwards, Berry Gordy's sister.

Though thought of as a basement, Hitsville's studio was actually a converted garage.

The actual underground basement was home to the engineering staff.

The studio's nickname, "Snakepit," derived from

the microphone cables suspended from the ceiling.

The control room, seen behind the glass, had

six monitors blasting both day and night.

The cabinets were custom-built by the Gordy family's construction crew.

Everyone pitched in at Motown: In the early days,

Smokey Robinson was responsible for cleaning Studio A.

A key to the Motown Sound was nothing ever moved, especially the drums.

The vibes arejack Ashford's original Deegan Imperial Nocturne model.

The real piano, however, is in Berry Gordy's house.

Meshell performs The Miracles' "You've Really Got A Hold On Me. "

The original track was cut October 16, 1962, and hit the Top 10 a few months later.

None of the musicians used headphones during their original sessions.

The guitarists crowded around a monitor (seen behind

Eddie Willis) and were responsible for their own volume.

Smokey wrote "You Really Got A Hold On Me"...

a homage to Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me. "

The horns are playing live

they're just off camera, in

Motown's original isolation booth.

Meshell was the first woman to be honored as "Bassist of the Year," in 1994.

Jack Ashford stands 6' 5", but he still gets

teased for having the world's largest tambourine.

Marvin Gaye started singing with

The Rainbows in Washington D.C. ...

and Harvey Fuqua's Moonglows in the "50s. He first worked at Motown as a drummer.

Joe had been retired for 30 years but was convinced,

for this film, to take out his guitar again.

Riser is being modest here: he was a terrific trombone player.

Quick look: a rare shot of the Temptations'

David Ruffin without his trademark black glasses.

Benny Benjamin and joe Hunter were in their

mid-thirties when they started the Motown band.

The Funks recorded the session Joe's referring to on june 3, 1962.

Berry Gordy sang the demo for The Contours.

"Do You Love Me?" originally hit number three in '62...

and returned to the charts when featured in the hit film Dirty Dancing in 1988.

Bootsy is an influential and innovative bassist

who was heavily influenced byjames jamerson.

Bootsy admits he could never play likejamerson, so

he developed his own unique, "liquid funk" style...

as heard on james Brown's "Sex Machine,"

several P-Funk classics and with his own band.

Berry Gordy originally turned down The

Contours. jackie Wilson

spoke up on their behalf.

Wilson was shot by his girlfriend in front of his NYC apartment February 15, 1961.

Because of his injuries, Wilson could only handle

three shows a week. The Funks made $25 per show.

However, their expenses were $60 a week, leaving them with

only $15 profit. They were better off in the "Snakepit. "

On the road,james jamerson spent the better part of his

time searching for soul food. Hotel food made him grouchy.

Jamerson liked odd food concoctions like raccoon and possum gumbo.

Pig's feet are considered a Chinese delicacy and are eaten for good luck.

The music heard here is, "The Way You Do The Things You Do. "

Smokey Robinson and fellow Miracle Bobby Rogers

wrote it in a similar station wagon while on tour.

Blues singerjoe Weaver was Benny's first cousin.

Pre-Motown, The Funk Brothers often backed him live.

Corn liquor, aka "moonshine," is also called "panther's breath... "

"ruckus juice," "hillbilly pop" and "white lightning. "

The "Hitch Hike" session was on September 16, 1962. The producer was Mickey Stevenson.

Uriel's nickname was "Possum. "

"Pistol" is sitting at his original drum set,

still in that exact spot at the Motown Museum.

At that time, "Funk" is lowdown, nasty - a word not used in everyday conversation.

When the band had an album released in '64...

Berry Gordy changed the name of the group to Earl Van Dyke & The Soul Brothers.

Jr. Walker & The All Stars' original "Shotgun" was recorded December 15, 1964.

While the song stemmed from Jr. 's regular club dates...

The Funk Brothers, not The All Stars, recorded his Motown hit.

It reached number four on the Pop charts.

Jr. Walker played a Selmer saxophone, but retired the original in the '80s.

His style influenced dozens of later players like Tom Scott.

The original version's signature intro resulted

from Eddie Willis accidentally kicking a reverb tank.

Johnny Griffith recorded for Motown's short-lived Workshopjazz label.

His album, "jazz," received a four-star review from Downbeat in May 1963.

Mickey Stevenson is surrounded by Jamerson (left),

his wife and singer Kim Weston and jack Ashford.

"Pride And joy" features some ofjoe Hunter's best piano playing at Motown.

The session they're discussing was recorded midweek, September 12, 1962.

Joe had been gigging with Hank Ballard & The Midnighters...

when he took a gamble to go with Berry Gordy's new record venture in '58.

Joe describes himself as a "down-home boogie woogie" piano player.

Ethel Waters first popularized "Stormy

Weather" in 1933, when joe was a very young boy.

Lottie was originally a Lindy Hop dancer in New York in the late "40s.

Soul singer Solomon Burke says she was "the first naked woman I ever saw

- with a snake. "

The two versions of "I Heard It Through The

Grapevine," inspired by Lottie's rhythms...

were recorded four months apart in 1967- Marvin Gaye's was cut first.

They're standing on 12th Street, where the '67

riots began. It's now known as Rosa Parks Boulevard.

Martha jean "The Queen" Steinberg, a blues Dj on Wj LB...

would routinely broadcast The Funk Brothers' jam sessions...

at the Chit Chat during the glory days of the 1960s.

Motown producerjohnny Bristol said The Funk Brothers "breathed together. "

He once recalled a session where one of the guys went

out to get a sandwich, came back five minutes later...

and fell back into the groove as if he'd never left.

The Funk Brothers are re-creating the original

session recorded at Hitsville on September 28, 1965.

Producer Norman Whitfield had written it as "Please

Don't Leave Me Girl" and intended it for Marvin Gaye.

With new lyrics by Eddie Holland, "Ain't Too Proud To

Beg" by the Temptations reached number four in 1966.

Kasuku Mafia, an original member of the Motown

horn section, re-creates his solo from the record.

Ben Harper also covered Marvin Gaye's only non-Motown hit, "Sexual Healing. "

Motown engineering graduated to eight-track recording

in january 1965, using hand-built machines that opened...

the sonic spectrum and allowed room for

the sophisticated arrangements cited.

Earl Van Dyke joined in '63 and evolved into the bandleader a year later.

He was called not only "Big Funk," but "Ookie" and "Chunk of Funk. "

Earl's exceptional jazz-soul organ chops...

can be heard on saxophonist Fred jackson's rare

Blue Note album from 1963, Hootin' 'N Tootin.

Berry Gordy instructed The Funk Brothers to teach

young Stevie Wonder how to play piano and drums.

The lessons would often turn comical, leaving Stevie

locked in a closet after a game of Hide-And-Seek.

Earl died of prostate cancer on September 19, 1992.

Uriel, like Berry Gordy, was a young boxer.

Elsewhere in the Snakepit, Robert White was an expert martial artist.

PAC-3, United and Golden World were all Detroit

studios located within a few minutes of Hitsville.

The "few bucks" Eddie mentions rose from an initial $5 per track in late "59...

to the union scale of $52.50 per three-hour session in 1964.

Johnny's extra $100 a week then translates to more than $500 a week in 2002 dollars.

Most of the Funks were salaried employees earning a

steady income they could augment with outside gigs.

Jamerson eventually made close to $100,000 a year in the late '60s.

Bootsy performs "Cooljerk," originally a hit for Detroit

group The Capitols. It was a Top 10 smash in spring 1966.

The original "Cooljerk" session was one of the last cut at

Golden World Studios, just before its purchase by Berry Gordy.

Golden World was to become Motown's "Studio B."

Johnny Griffith, Eddie Willis and Bob Babbitt

re-create their original parts from the record.

The original session also included saxophonist Mike

Terry and future Motown guitarist Dennis Coffey.

Between 1962 and 1975, 75 percent of all Motown releases made the Pop charts.

In December '68, Motown held the top three spots for four weeks.

The Tamla-Motown UK tour ran from March 20 through April 12, 1965.

The Funks not only backed the stars, they

were billed as "The Earl Van Dyke Sextet"...

and had two instrumental singles already in the market: "All For You" and "Soul Stomp. "

The Beatles also paid Motown homage by having Mary Wells open their '64 UK tour.

Motown's Brenda Holloway opened dates on their '65 U.S. tour.

Earl Van Dyke remembers Smokey pushing for more than 40

takes of"The Tears Of A Clown. " Take nine became the hit.

The Funks created the hit track for

"Standing In The Shadows Of Love" in 14 takes.

The vocal overdubs by the Four Tops, however, required 52 takes.

Jack Ashford played dozens of percussion instruments. Some were his own invention...

like the "hotel sheet," which he used on Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up. "

Neither drummer, Pistol nor Uriel, let on during filming that they were ill.

Uriel required quintuple bypass surgery soon after production closed.

Pistol was diagnosed with terminal cancer and

died june 30, 2002, before the film's release.

Pistol, with tongue-in-cheek, describes a basic pop-rock beat.

Pistol Allen was the master of the "Beale Street"

shuffle and the Motown "four on the floor"' groove.

The "Beale Street" shuffle originated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Pistol describes the session with producer Norman Whitfield on February 3, 1967.

It was a track intended for the Temptations.

Instead, Marvin Gaye overdubbed "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" a few days later.

Ben Harper sings Marvin's version, which at that time, sat in the can.

Gladys Knight & The Pips' faster version was

recorded, issued and eventually hit number two.

Producer Whitfield fought with Berry

Gordy for the release of Marvin's version.

It was stuck on an album more than a year later.

Radio found it and forced its release as a single in November 1968...

when it became Motown's most successful record to that point.

Marvin's "Grapevine" was number one in the U.S. and the UK...

staying on top the U.S. R&B chart for nearly two months.

Benny's substance abuse led to chronic heart disease.

Motown logs indicate only two, brief sessions

for April 20, 1969, the day Benny died

- and none the day after.

Joe Messina was considered the best music reader of all The Funk Brothers.

He played the complicated written parts.

Berry Gordy produced and released Marv johnson's hit "Come To Me," in 1959...

the first record on his independent Tamla label.

Joe was a staff guitarist at WXYZ-TV. More than 10 years

after he played for Soupy Sales' nighttime TV band...

Soupy became a national comic sensation and released a novelty album on Motown in 1969.

Eddie "Bongo" Brown started his career as Marvin Gaye's valet.

Respect for Eddie's contributions shows in the Motown recording set-up:

unlike the three guitars, which were combined on one

track, his congas were usually given their own track...

so his sound wouldn't be buried by the other instruments.

Joan and jack are at the Parkwood Diner in Oak, Michigan...

talking about the single, "Soul 35022," released june 1966.

The Funks re-create the original track recorded for

"What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" on August 3, 1965.

The original single byjimmy Ruffin - brother

ofTemptation David Ruffin - hit the Top 10 in summer "66.

The track was originally given different lyrics and sung by the Isley Brothers.

When rewritten,jimmy "took" the song from the Spinners.

Paul Riser, seen in this film, wrote the

song's sublime arrangement and is its co-author.

Additional keyboardist Rudy Robinson, seen here

in the top hat, was a good friend to the Funks...

and did many gigs with them after Motown.

He died shortly after the film was completed.

Seth justman, a member of thej. Geils Band and the brother of director Pauljustman...

arranged this dramatic breakdown for the film.

Robert White recorded his famous guitar line to "My Girl" with the rest of the Funks...

on a Friday at Hitsville, September 25, 1964.

Smokey Robinson wrote and produced "My Girl"...

then taught it to the Temptations while backstage at NY's Apollo Theater.

During Robert's fallow L.A. period, he sold his beloved black Gibson L-5 guitar.

He returned to performing and recording in the early 1990s...

before he died unexpectedly in '94 of complications after heart surgery.

Also in the mix on the local scene: The Parliaments,

led by former Motown staff writer, George Clinton...

whose outrageous funk - often augmented by a few

ofThe Funk Brothers - caught Whitfield's ears.

Dennis describes a short-lived Motown "Producer's Workshop"...

created by the Motown brass in the summer-fall of 1968.

Uriel plays his original drum part while Pistol

re-creates the part originally played by "Spider" Webb.

"Cloud Nine" was originally recorded in 16 takes on October 1, 1968.

Carla Benson was a renowned Philadelphia

International session singer for more than a decade.

"Cloud Nine" was a Top 10 hit and Motown's first Grammy Award winner.

John Ingram was singer and road drummer for Patti LaBelle.

"Cloud Nine" was the first Temptations hit to feature multiple lead singers.

Nate and Ralphe are speaking about Bob Babbitt's bass solo in "Scorpio"...

the Top 10 hit by Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band from 1971.

Babbitt is depicted in the famed Roostertail club on

the Detroit River, home of the "Motown Monday" shows.

Babbitt is shown here with his teen band The Counts.

This was Babbitt's band The Royal Tones - that's Dennis Coffey at left.

He joined Stevie Wonder's road band in '66. His first

recordings at Hitsville were album tracks for Stevie in '67.

Albums sessions for "What's Going On" were done in 10 frantic days.

Songs were cut in the sequence they were eventually released.

Jamerson recorded the first half of the album.

Babbitt handled the second half

- "Mercy Mercy Me" through "Inner City Blues. "

This rare performance footage is from a benefit for Rev. jessejackson's...

Operation PUSH in Chicago, October 1, 1972.

Racial confrontations also escalated into urban

riots in Newark, Nj; New York City; Cleveland, OH;

Washington, D.C.; Chicago, I L and Atlanta, GA, in the summer of'67.

The Funks had been recording "Ain't Nothing Like The

Real Thing" a few hours before the riots broke out.

Sessions were cancelled for the next 10 days.

Before the National Guard ended the Detroit riots on july 25...

43 African Americans were killed, 1,189 were injured and 7,231 were arrested.

During these sessions Marvin was like a Funk Brother...

playing piano and percussion alongside them.

Chaka Khan sings the song Marvin created after

his family was scarred by the Vietnam War.

His cousin died in the war, and his brother Frankie returned home with horror stories.

For the album's sessions, Marvin hired Chet Forest, a local jazz drummer.

Pistol is re-creating Marvin's original percussion part played on a "box drum. "

This arrangement is based on David Van De Pitte's original score.

Tom Scott transposed Eli Fontaine's original alto sax part to his soprano sax.

Berry Gordy at first rejected "What's Going On. "

He not only didn't want a protest song, he didn't

like the "Dizzy Gillespie scatting" in the middle.

Original background singers on the record were

Lem Barney and Mel Farr of the Detroit Lions...

The Miracles' Bobby Rogers and Motown's other unsung heroes...

The Andantes: Louvain Demps, Marlene Barrow and jackie Hicks.

Eddie Willis stands on the bridge to Detroit's Belle

Isle, where many Motown company picnics took place...

and wherejamerson drove with friends, despondent over Motown's move west.

The "hits to come" in Detroit after "What's Going On"...

included The Temptations' "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" and The Supremes' "Floyjoy. "

Motown had been recording in Los Angeles since the mid-"60s...

and set up corporate offices in Los Angeles in 1968.

Upon officially leaving Detroit in '72, Motown left

behind a skeletal staff to oversee occasional studio dates.

Jamerson's West Coast sessions included The Sylvers' "Boogie Fever"...

The Hues Corp. 's "Rock The Boat" and Marilyn McCoo

& Billy Davis's "You Don't Have To Be A Star. "

Motown 25: Yesterday, Today & Foreverwas filmed at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Jamerson died at the age of 47, August 2, 1983.

Jamerson's obituary in Rolling Stone by singer/ Detroit native Marshall Crenshaw...

inspired Allan Slutsky to write the book Standing In The Shadows Of Motown.

After Motown's L.A. move, Uriel and

Pistol stayed in Detroit to play gigs.

Jack became a producer, then gave up music until

this film. "Bongo" played until his death in 1983.

Eddie went on tour with the Four Tops for 20 years...

Joe retired to open a chain of car washes and jewelry stores...

while Robert slipped in and out of music.

Joe kept playing after "63. Earl toured with Freda

Payne and taught at Detroit's public schools...

as did johnny, between his gigs.

Babbitt became a premier session bassist in New York, Philadelphia and Nashville...

creating tracks for The Spinners, Elton john, Alice Cooper and many others.

Montell and Chaka perform Marvin Gaye and Tammi

Terrell's version of"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"...

a Top 20 hit in spring 1967.

"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was originally recorded in Studio B...

as a solo track for Tammi on December 20, 1966.

Standing 6'8", Montell is the only one on stage taller than jack Ashford.

Chaka and her group Rufus got their break when Motown's Stevie Wonder...

wrote their first hit, "Tell Me Something Good. "

Uriel played with Benny on the original version.

He played with Andrew Smith on the 1970 remake by Diana Ross.

Postscript: johnny Griffith died hours before

the film's Detroit premiere, Nov. 10, 2002.