Hitsville according to Wikipedia:
The Hitsville U.S.A. building in Detroit, Michigan.
“Hitsville U.S.A.” was the nickname given to Motown Records’ first headquarters. Located at 2648 West Grand Blvd. in Detroit, Michigan, Hitsville U.S.A., formerly a photographers’ studio, was purchased by Motown founder Berry Gordy in 1959, and converted into both the record label’s administrative building and recording studio, which was open 22 hours a day (closing from 8 to 10 AM for maintenance).
Since 1985, The Hitsville U.S.A. building has been the site of the Motown Historical Museum, dedicated to the legacy of the record label, its artists, and its music.[6] Owned and operated by Esther Gordy Edwards, sister of Berry Gordy, the Motown Museum contains exhibits featuring costumes, photos, and records from Motown’s success era. Also featured are Motown’s “Studio A” and Berry Gordy’s upstairs apartment, decorated to appear as they did during the 1960s. The museum is one of Detroit’s most popular tourist destinations.[6]
If you’ve seen The Temptations movie and other Motown films, the Hitsville in those movies is actually the real Hitsville. I went through a period in my life where I was obsessed with Motown. I read books on the label and listened to any music I could get my hands on.
In the process, I discovered many people behind the scenes like the almighty Funk Brothers.
The Funk Brothers was the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 until 1972, when the company moved to Los Angeles. The Funk Brothers played on Motown hits such as “My Girl”, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “Baby Love”, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”, “The Tears of a Clown”, and “(Love is Like a) Heat Wave”.
They often aren’t mentioned at all when people discuss Motown. Why? I mean shit, they did play the music after all right? It’s sad when you realize how little recognition they got and are getting after playing on all the classics. There’s a DVD Standing in the Shadows of Motown which tells the story of the Funk Brothers while reuniting the remaining members to play classic Motown songs with newer artists. One of the few DVD’s I have in my collection.
Here’s a snippet:
Holland–Dozier–Holland is a songwriting and production team made up of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian Holland and Edward Holland, Jr.. The trio wrote and arranged many of the songs making up the Motown sound that dominated American popular music in the 1960s. During their tenure at Motown Records from 1962–1967, Dozier and Brian Holland were the composers/producers for each song, and Eddie Holland wrote the lyrics and arranged the vocals. When the trio left Motown, they continued to work as a production team (with Eddie Holland being added to the producer credits), and as a songwriting team until about 1974. In 1990, the trio was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Well this is getting kinda long…my whole point of this post is…I’m tryna go to Hitsville at least once in my lifetime.
BEAUTIFUL MUSIC, BABY. 