Esther Gordy Edwards obituary

key executive Motown Records who helped his brother Berry is the company

Berry Gordy Jr.

When asked his parents and seven siblings of a loan of $ 800 with which to start his own label, her older sister was the last to reach an agreement . Esther Gordy Edwards, who died aged 91, had created a company that lent money to family members and was not convinced that Berry, who wrote several hit songs and tries to Boxing and pimping, but it did not last long in a good job, has the business acumen necessary, or, more importantly, be able to devote to work hard. Over time, the end of the meeting around the table at the family home Gordy in Detroit in 1959, Esther has consented reluctantly, and Motown Records was being born.

"Esther was more difficult than expected," said Berry. "But I knew then that if you make money, it would be that I came to see me." It has become a part key to Motown, care of business in the early days of the operation Talent Management International Inc., the operation of his brother in charge of controlling all aspects of the careers of its artists, including the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Miracles, Four Tops, Temptations and Stevie Wonder.

Berry

When Motown moved to Los Angeles in 1972, she was the one who stayed behind, maintaining an office in the two-storey house in the 2648 West Grand Boulevard, which had contained the studies initial, known as Hitsville USA. The arrival of a group of British sailors one day in 1981, seeking the source of the sounds he loved, he gave the idea of ??turning the house into a museum, and began the process by sticking photographs , posters and album art in the walls, and visitors are admitted Friday. The Motown Historical Museum, where he welcomed the upcoming tour groups from around the world, has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Detroit.

Esther Gordy was born in Oconee, Georgia, the second son of Berry "Pops" Gordy II, the son of a sharecropper and grandson son of the owner of the plantation white and a black slave, and his wife, Bertha. Esther was two years old when the family joined the great transmigration of black people in the south, north of Detroit in the proceeds from the sale of wooden stumps on the farm malignant Gordy.

The Gordy were ambitious. In the words of Gerald Posner, author of a history of Motown ", their energies are channeled in trade, education and discipline." Esther was educated at Cass Technical High School, the alma mater of many musicians and singers from Detroit great, including Diana Ross, and state universities and Wayne Howard. After graduation, she and her brothers George Fuller and founded a successful printing company under the name of the family, and in 1951 married George Edwards, a local politician well connected. She had a son, Robert, from his first marriage, Robert Bullock.

• Esther was instrumental in the creation of a fund in which each family member has paid $ 10 a week, primarily by investing in real estate, but also to help promising projects . This fund was the source of $ 800 that Berry used to record a song called Come to me with singer Marv Johnson, who became a hit once it had been leased to United Artists. Its success laid the foundation of an empire. As the company grew, the brothers were involved, either as composers publishing executives, engineers and recording. But it was Esther, who became a vice president with composer and singer William "Smokey" Robinson. Until the movement of California, was also the CEO of the company. Her second husband, an accountant by training, served as a controller.
• In 1962, she and the conductor Thomas "Beans" Bowles Motortown Revue tours created the package. Duties include negotiating guardianship for young stars such as Gladys Horton, lead singer of the Marvelettes, they were too young to sign contracts. When Wonder was signed as a prodigy of 11, enrolled in the Michigan School for the Blind, and hired a tutor to accompany him on the way.

When they reached adulthood, many early Motown star would look back with bitter resentment at the way the company had managed his career, particularly in the financial sector, where revenues various sources - record sales, songs, copyright, rate of return - guaranteed crossed to maximize participation in management in a way that would not be tolerated today. None of those who feel bad, however, seemed to be directed to Esther. "It has protected us against the men who saw us as fresh meat," says another former Marvelettes, Katherine Anderson from his days on the road. "It was another mother to me," said Wonder. The first woman elected to the Chamber of Commerce and Detroit's first African American appointed to the board of the jury court in the city, who later became president, he has received numerous awards for his charitable works.

Motown

early success of Berry was to buy five properties surrounding the original building in which the Hitsville house the expansion of its business. Later he was transferred to an office building with 10 floors, but not in downtown Detroit, followed by the exodus controversial in Hollywood, where the founder could be achieved with very mixed success, his dream to become a mogul in Hollywood. In 1989, he sold the record company in crisis for 61 million. Now, only one study, known by musicians such as Snakepit, stands as a monument to his business history, recreated by Esther with the recording equipment as original can be found. "She had started to collect memories of Motown way back before it's memories," said Berry, "record of our long history even before we knew we were doing."

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