It wouldn’t be Motown’s 60th Anniversary without visiting their premiere singer, songwriter and producer. As legend goes, Smokey Robinson met Berry Gordy with a notebook of songs, of which maybe one or two Gordy considered viable, yet he was impressed with the teenager’s moxie. So goes the template of who Gordy accepted into the fold,…
Tag: Len Barry
Don’t Trust The Weatherman, And Always Carry Your Umbrella: 35 Tunes For That Rainy Day Feeling
Nobody really warned me that summer ends right after Labor Day in the Pacific Northwest. After a long (short) Summer of 2 months, it’s been mostly rain, rain (please go away) in the Portland Metropolitan area. This is truly bizarre to me, living in the Bay Area, splendid, vaguely summery weather lasts all the way…
Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff: Brotherly Love In The Recording Booth
Picture it, Philadelphia. 1963. Okay, it’s Leo season, and time for me to round up another pioneering set of songwriters. Given the season of the lion, I had to pay tribute to one member of Royal Soul. But you can’t really go into the spectacle that is the influential career of Kenneth Gamble (born August…
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