Barrett Strong

Barrett Strong (1996)

Barrett Strong (born February 5, 1941 in West Point , Mississippi ) is an American songwriter and singer .

Beginnings as a singer

On January 12, 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founded the independent record label Tamla Records and was looking for talent. He first found Marv Johnson , who also brought out the first single in the Tamla catalog. 18-year-old Barrett Strong played the piano and was an average singer. He was introduced by Jackie Wilson to the label's founder, Berry Gordy, who had composed a few hits for Wilson from 1957. Barrett Strong's first single for the new Tamla Records label was Let's Rock / Do the Very Best You Can (Tamla 54022) in April 1959 , the fourth single in the label's catalog.

In August 1959, Berry Gordy was improvising on the piano in the newly built home recording studio of "Hitsville, USA" in the garage when he asked the listening Barrett Strong and Janie Bradford: "Come on, think of something that everyone needs!" Bradford replied. A text emerged spontaneously, and Barrett Strong, who played the piano better than Gordy, sat down at the piano. It was the title Money (That's What I Want) , sung by Barrett Strong, published on August 10, 1959. With a 2nd place in the R&B charts, it was the most successful so far - by the way, by the company boss Berry Gordy Jr. . Written with Janie Bradford - hit. Gordy's concerns about the release amid the Payola scandal were disproved by its success. The good record sales brought sufficient capital to expand the up-and-coming Tamla Motown label.

Strong released 4 more singles with Tamla, albeit unsuccessful, namely You Know What to Do / Yes, No, Maybe So (May 1960; 54029), I'm Gonna Cry / Whirl Wind (August 31, 1960), You Got What It Takes / Money and Me (February 8, 1961; 54035) and Misery / Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right (June 3, 1961; 54043) and had sung 6 singles at Tamla.

Career as a composer

Strong's first success as a composer (together with William Stevenson) was in January 1962 for the still-singer Eddie Holland (later part of the writer-producer team Holland – Dozier – Holland ) with the top 30 song Jamie . It was not until 1966, however, before Strong - who mostly wrote the lyrics - worked on the first joint composition with Norman Whitfield . There was I Heard It Through the Grapevine first for The Miracles in June 1966 which was initially not be published. In June 1967 it was picked up by Gladys Knight & the Pips (US pop No. 2) before the song even became No. 1 on the pop charts via rumors by Marvin Gaye (October 1968). This version was the top-selling single of the Motown group for 20 months. In the meantime, The Temptations were able to achieve 4th place in the pop hit parade with the romantic I Wish It Would Rain from December 1967, mixed with real rain and thunder noises. Strong and Whitfield used the Temptations from then on as a vehicle for their experimental concepts, which differed greatly from the so-called "Motown sound". The first example was the drug-glorifying Cloud Nine, about the difficulties of poor people, published on October 25, 1968. Distorted wah-wah guitars, completely in the style of Sly & the Family Stone , with a fast beat, created the psychedelic atmosphere.

The new sound was well received as the song climbed to number 6 on the pop charts. The hit became a model for other, similarly conceived songs about runaway children ( Runaway Child Running Wild , January 1969), Neighbors' dispute ( Don't Let the Joneses Get You Down , May 1969) or the world as a ball of aberrations with a list of current political issues Problems ( Ball of Confusion , May 1970). The era of relationship and love-oriented texts at Motown ended at the latest with the anti-war epic War for Edwin Starr (July 1970, US-1 Pop). Social criticism, underlaid with orchestral and at the same time overlong sound mixes, reached its climax with Papa Was a Rollin 'Stone . Strong received a 1973 Grammy for Best R&B Song for this sound collage about a rogue, published on September 6, 1972 and listed at No. 1 . In total, Strong was involved in writing 21 big hits.

When Motown moved to Los Angeles in June 1972, Barrett Strong left the company and switched to Capitol Records to return to his singing career. There he released the two albums Stronghold (1975) and Live & Love (1976), which were not successful. After that he retired professionally and now works occasionally as a songwriter for television series.

In 2004 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for his services.

In 2010 the video for the song Misery was released, co-produced by Eliza Neals and Martin "Tino" Gross - the first music video in his fifty year career.

In 2015, Rolling Stone listed Strong and Whitfield at 46th place of the 100 best songwriters of all time .

Discography

Albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	R&B
1975	Stronghold Capitol 11376	-	R&B47 (6 weeks) R&B	First published: May 1975 Producer: Barrett Strong

More albums

• 1976: Live & Love (Capitol 11490)
• 1987: Love Is You (Cherie 2007)
• 2000: Stronghold 2 (Blarritt 1310)
• 2015: Rarer Stamps 01 ( split album with Gino Parks; Outta Sight 003)

Compilations

• 2003: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Barrett Strong ( Motown ; released January 28)
• 2004: The Complete Motown Collection ( Spectrum 980777-3; release: December 14th)
• 2016: Money: The Very Best of Barrett Strong (Not Now Music 224; Release: August 19th)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	R&B
1960	Money (That's What I Want)	US23 (17 weeks) US	R&B2 (21 weeks) R&B	First published: August 10, 1959 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 294th place on the Rolling Stone 500 (list 2010) Authors: Berry Gordy , Janie Bradford
1973	Stand Up and Cheer for the Preacher	-	R&B78 (6 weeks) R&B	First published: July 5, 1973 Author: Barrett Strong
1975	Is It True Stronghold	-	R&B41 (11 weeks) R&B	First published: April 1975 Author: Barrett Strong

More singles

• 1959: Let's Rock (release: April)
• 1960: Yes No, Maybe So (released in May)
• 1960: I'm Gonna Cry (If You Quit Me) (released August 31)
• 1961: Money and Me (released February 8)
• 1961: Misery (released June 3rd)
• 1962: Seven Sins (release: May)
• 1964: Make Up Your Mind (release: September)
• 1975: Surrender (release: July)
• 1976: Man Up in the Sky (release: January)
• 1980: Love Is You
• 1981: Rock It Easy (release: May)

swell

1. ^ Bill Dahl, Motown: The Golden Years , 2011, p. 315 f.
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUmqlxZtTWs
3. ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Billboard Hot 100
5. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9
6. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot R&B Songs 1942–2010: 6th Edition, ISBN 978-0-89820-186-4
7. ↑ RS500 Songs (List 2010)

Web links

• Works by and about Barrett Strong in the catalog of the German National Library
• Barrett Strong at Allmusic (English)
• Barrett Strong at Discogs (English)
• Barrett Strong at 45cat.com