Motown’s Black women songwriters and producers were the invisible architects behind the pop music juggernaut

During the 1960s, in a country divided by racial strife, the music of Berry Gordy Jr.’s Motown Records helped bring people together.

Motown was noted for star performers like Mary Wells, The Miracles, The Supremes, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas^[1], Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. But, behind the scenes, a talented group of lesser known women were driving the hits in Hitsville U.S.A.

I’m a scholar of popular culture^[2] and author of the biography “It’s No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown’s Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy^[3].” Researching my book inspired me to find other women who contributed to the Detroit label’s era of chart dominance and helped change the music industry, despite going largely unrecognized for their efforts.

I listened to Motown growing up, but it wasn’t until 2021, while sitting at home during the pandemic, that I discovered Moy’s history as the lyricist for Stevie Wonder and how she helped revive his early career^[4].

Because Moy died in 2017, I wasn’t able to speak with her for the book. Instead I researched her life by reading countless interviews she gave, along with talking to her former colleagues at Motown, family and ethnomusicologists, who are scholars that study music through the lens of culture.

Architect of the early sound

When Gordy was organizing his company, Janie Bradford^[5] was one of the original five founding members who arrived in 1958. She was the label’s first secretary and its first female songwriter after co-writing, with Gordy, the song “Money (That’s What I Want)^[6].” That song was released on Tamla Records^[7] in 1959 and performed by Barrett Strong. When Motown was incorporated the following year, the song became the label’s first hit record on the R&B chart and Billboard Hot 100.

Later, Bradford co-wrote “Contract on Love^[9]” for Wonder and “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby^[10],” first recorded by The Temptations and later, Marvin Gaye. Bradford, who later became Motown’s director of writer’s relations, teamed up with pianist Richard “Popcorn” Wylie in the early 1960s to form Janard, a small production company.

Bradford’s collection of poetry is what captured Gordy’s attention, so he encouraged her to be a songwriter. Her witty lyrics told stories about situations that most anyone could relate to – namely, money and love – blended with up-tempo, thumping beats.

Laying the foundation as a producer

Another key figure who paved the way with the Motown sound was Raynoma Gordy Singleton, who was married to Berry Gordy Jr. from 1960 to 1964^[11]. She organized Motown during its beginnings by completing the necessary paperwork to incorporate the business. Known as “Miss Ray” to some and “Mother Motown” to others, she located the legendary house at 2648 West Grand Boulevard that became the Motown headquarters and, decades later, the Motown Museum^[12].

In her role as the label’s first executive vice president, she established a tape library. A piano virtuoso and singer, the Cass Technical High School graduate wrote that she was able to play all string and wind instruments^[13]. As a result, she became the company’s first female arranger and producer by putting together its first backup vocal group, the Rayber Voices, in 1958.

“Producing records was where the action was controlled – and where the money was to be made,” she wrote in her memoir, “The Untold Story: Berry, Me, and Motown^[14],” which aimed to reclaim her place in the Motown echelon.

During the 1960s, women weren’t considered producers because of broader biases and norms in the male-dominated music industry. Even so, Miss Ray got credit for producing Jimmy Ruffin’s song “Don’t Feel Sorry for Me^[15]” in 1961.

Earning a producer’s credit was a sign of legitimacy. Most producers received a songwriting credit and determined who received credit in the liner notes for their contribution to the recording.

While women mostly worked in administrative roles at Motown, there still weren’t any female full-time, in-house songwriters and producers. Like the rest of the music industry back then, Motown’s internal structure^[16] was patriarchal with those positions.

The first certified female songwriter and producer

Yet this imbalanced gender dynamic at Motown didn’t stop Sylvia Moy.

There hadn’t been any women producers behind significant, popular songs at Motown until Moy arrived, according to interviews I conducted for her biography.

Motown was at its peak in 1964. Demand for new songs was intense. When the label’s executives realized how skillfully the two audition songs Moy performed were composed, they decided that her future was in songwriting instead of singing.

Discovered by William “Mickey” Stevenson and Marvin Gaye, Moy was hired as the first female in-house songwriter, competing with eminent colleagues like Smokey Robinson, Norman Whitfield and the songwriting trio Holland-Dozier-Holland who wrote 10 of the Supremes’^[17] chart-topping singles. Moy made more history in 1965 after co-writing and co-producing^[18] Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)^[19].”

While she received the songwriting credit and helped revive the teenaged Wonder’s career, Moy wasn’t given the producer’s credit, unlike her two male counterparts, Stevenson and Henry “Hank” Cosby.

A lack of recognition stymied Moy’s career opportunities. If a songwriter or producer wasn’t credited, their value could not be validated or established, which made it harder for them to find work at other record labels.

According to my research, Moy revealed that she never got producer credit for any of her work while at Motown. This is why her legacy was buried for so long^[20].

Other tunes she wrote for Wonder were “I Was Made to Love Her,” “My Cherie Amour” and “With A Child’s Heart,” co-written with Vicki Basemore. Moy also wrote Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston’s “It Takes Two” and The Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You).” Though songwriter Eddie Holland told me he gave her a co-writing credit for “This Old Heart of Mine,” Moy’s name was not listed on the record, only Holland-Dozier-Holland.

Interviews I conducted with Moy’s family members and research from an ethnomusicologist suggest she was even an uncredited co-writer for Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)^[21],” his first song as a solo producer, and The Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg^[22].”

However, Holland denied this claim in an interview with me, though he also admitted that the song’s late co-writer and producer, Norman Whitfield, presented him with the lyrics, and he wasn’t sure where they came from.

Full credit along with creative control

In 1968, Valerie Simpson became Motown’s first female songwriter to also receive a producer credit. This possibly happened because her songwriting partner was her husband, Nickolas Ashford.

Other famous female songwriters like Carole King^[23], Ellie Greenwich ^[24] and Cynthia Weil^[25] also had a prominent husband in the music industry. Sylvia Moy did not, which made what she did unprecedented.

Simpson told Billboard^[27] in 2023 that the credit was difficult to attain because so few women were producers back then. It finally happened with the Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye song “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing,” with Simpson getting credit for co-writing, co-producing and performing background vocals along with Ashford.

This was their third hit tune by Terrell and Gaye, who also recorded “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Your Precious Love,” in 1967. The following year, they had another hit with “You’re All I Need to Get By,” which Ashford and Simpson also co-wrote, co-produced and did background vocals on.

Simpson became the first Black woman to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002^[28]. Moy became the second in 2006^[29].

Though female songwriters and producers continue the fight for inclusion^[30] in the recording studio, the doors were opened by the tenacious women of Motown. It is because of them that future generations of female creatives know what is possible.

References

1. ^{^} Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (theconversation.com)
2. ^{^} scholar of popular culture (engl.uic.edu)
3. ^{^} It’s No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown’s Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy (www.hachettebookgroup.com)
4. ^{^} revive his early career (www.ebony.com)
5. ^{^} Janie Bradford (www.thehistorymakers.org)
6. ^{^} Money (That’s What I Want) (www.thehistorymakers.org)
7. ^{^} Tamla Records (www.udiscovermusic.com)
8. ^{^} Alison Buck/Getty Images for The Recording Academy (www.gettyimages.com)
9. ^{^} Contract on Love (www.youtube.com)
10. ^{^} Too Busy Thinking About My Baby (www.youtube.com)
11. ^{^} married to Berry Gordy Jr. from 1960 to 1964 (amsterdamnews.com)
12. ^{^} Motown Museum (www.motownmuseum.org)
13. ^{^} play all string and wind instruments (www.publishersweekly.com)
14. ^{^} The Untold Story: Berry, Me, and Motown (www.publishersweekly.com)
15. ^{^} Don’t Feel Sorry for Me (www.youtube.com)
16. ^{^} Motown’s internal structure (www.hachettebookgroup.com)
17. ^{^} 10 of the Supremes’ (www.hourdetroit.com)
18. ^{^} co-writing and co-producing (www.hachettebookgroup.com)
19. ^{^} Uptight (Everything’s Alright) (www.youtube.com)
20. ^{^} buried for so long (www.kirkusreviews.com)
21. ^{^} Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) (www.youtube.com)
22. ^{^} Ain’t Too Proud to Beg (www.youtube.com)
23. ^{^} Carole King (www.caroleking.com)
24. ^{^} Ellie Greenwich (www.elliegreenwich.com)
25. ^{^} Cynthia Weil (www.mann-weil.com)
26. ^{^} Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty Images (www.gettyimages.com)
27. ^{^} Simpson told Billboard (www.billboard.com)
28. ^{^} in 2002 (www.songhall.org)
29. ^{^} in 2006 (www.songhall.org)
30. ^{^} fight for inclusion (assets.uscannenberg.org)