Good evening, everyone:

It was a week of milestones for Motown – in equal parts celebratory, sad, and historic.

First, the sad: one of the great songwriters of Motown history, Lamont Dozier, died this week at the age of 81.

Initially in collaboration with Brian and Eddie Holland, Dozier penned the music and lyrics to scores and scores of mega-hits coming out of Berry Gordy Jr.’s Motown from 1962 to 1973. From Martha and the Vandellas (“Heat Wave,” “Jimmy Mack”) to the Supremes (writing their first top ten hits, including “Baby Love,” “Stop in the Name of Love,” “You Keep Me Hanging On”) from the Temptations (“Reach Out and I’ll Be There”) to Marvin Gaye (“How Sweet it is to be Loved by You,” “Can I get a Witness”) and the Four Tops (“Bernadette,” “I Can’t Help Myself”). And it wasn’t just Motown. In 1989, his and Phil Collin’s “Two Hearts” reached #1 on the pop charts.

Dozier was as original as he was prolific. Here, for example, is a description from the Guardian of the process by which Dozier/The Four Tops’ #1 hit “Reach Out” was born:

Dozier and Brian Holland had written it together at the piano, shifting the song between major and minor modes, its chant-like lines a conscious amalgam of gospel urgency with Bob Dylan’s phrasing. In the studio, Eddie Holland and the arranger Paul Riser used a piccolo on the introduction, along with timpani mallets on a tambourine head, to achieve what Dozier would describe as “a journey of emotions with sustained tension, like a bolero”. Finally, to turn it into a plea of operatic intensity, they pitched it in a key above the normal range of the group’s great lead singer, Levi Stubbs, forcing him to strain for the notes.

The legacy of artistic pathbreakers like Lamont Dozier was vividly on display with the celebration on Monday of the Motown Museum’s $55 million expansion on West Grand River/Berry Gordy, Jr. Boulevard. Glittering with remarks and performances from Smokey Robinson (in the white suit below), Martha Reeves (leading young people in a dance below), representatives of The Temptations and the Four Tops, and young artists from the city, the celebration was a powerful reminder of the continuing power of Detroit’s music scene and its creative economy – past and present:

Monday night’s event marked the completion of the plaza that is the new “front porch” of the historic Hitsville, U.S.A. buildings – now three adjacent buildings in addition to the main Motown house.

And it signaled the continuing progress Robin Terry and her staff at Motown are making toward the comprehensive expansion and renovation of the exhibition, public meeting, youth education, recording, and performance spaces. As the Detroit Free Press noted,  “The event made clear the Motown Museum’s expansion isn’t just about new construction — it also aims to refresh a Detroit legacy for those who weren't around in the 1960s, seeking to fuel the brand’s relevance and creative energy for coming generations.”

The third event of note – and another way of underscoring the Motown brand’s relevance – was the Detroit opening of the Broadway musical “Ain’t Too Proud,” the story of the Temptations. Buoyed by its enormous success on Broadway, the show will run through August 28^th at the Detroit Opera House. Be sure to get your tickets soon – they are likely to go fast.

Dancing in the street . . . getting ready . . . what’s going on – a lot. Very exciting.

Rip

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