Motown Record Corp. was incorporated on April 14, 1960.
Berry Gordy Jr. had founded Tamla Records on Jan. 12, 1959, when he got an $800 family loan. The name came from a Debbie Reynolds movie he liked, “Tammy and the Bachelor,” according to Coraleen Rawls of the Motown Museum. Motown was a combination of Motor and Town.
Records were made in a studio in a house on West Grand Boulevard called Hitsville U.S.A. Today, it’s home to the Motown Museum.
In 1972, Gordy moved the record company to Los Angeles.
Among Motown’s biggest stars are Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, the Supremes, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations and the Four Tops.
For the full article, see Zlati Meyer, “This week in Michigan history: Motown Records spins to life”, Detroit Free Press, April 13, 2014.