To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown : An Autobiography
by Berry Gordy
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Book Summary Information
Author: Berry GordyEdition: Audio Cassette
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Abridged
Published: 1994-12
ISBN: 1570420890
Publisher: Time Warner AudioBooks
Book Reviews of To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown : An Autobiography
Book Review: OVERLY VARNISHED AND ONE-SIDED
Summary: 2 Stars
Like his main protege' Diana Ross' book SECRETS OF A SPARROW, I found this autobiography, TO BE LOVED, a bit too self-flattering and unapologetic.
Berry Gordy's story is extremely fascinating, his accomplishments in, and contributions to, American music are absolutely gargantuan. He deserves a great deal of credit for having created the conditions for an unmatched musical legacy to flourish. The lore surrounding the founding and early development of his great musical empire is almost as wonderful and engaging as the music itelf. You DO get some of that here.
Gordy also explains many of his business decisions. From most accounts, Mr. Gordy and his family were astute business people. However, Gordy's single-mindedness could often cause him to ignore or underplay some of the artist's gifts, appeal and marketability. For example, great as Diana Ross' star potential was, other female artists, even within the Supremes, were not as fully developed as they deserved to be, while Diana was given "special" opportunities in the way of extraordinary classes [beyond Motown's famous Artist Development]in modeling, etc. Was this purely a "business" decision? In the meantime, artists such as Kim Weston and Brenda Holloway, both quite gifted vocally, and very attractive physically, basically languished at the label.
Gladys Knight and The Pips, while having had moderate success at Motown, but not given that "extra push," absolutely exploded after they left the label, had huge sales, and were awarded several Grammy awards.
The Spinners fared even worse at Motown. But after they left the label they had phenomenal success in the early-mid seventies with singles and album sales. Many of those singles are considered r&b classics.
Was there just too much talent at Motown for all of it to be promoted as deserved? Was Mr. Gordy too hands-on during those years?
I wasn't satisfied with Mr. Gordy's take on some of these situations. As a huge Supremes' fan, I was especially dissatisfied with his matter-of-fact comment that, within the original group, Diana had the "sparkle," and Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard didn't, to paraphrase. People loved all 3 Supremes, and us fans recognized the magic and potential in all three. The fate of Florence Ballard is especially sad. She was dead [of a broken heart?] at age 32, just about 9 years after her ousting from that group. Her replacement within the Supremes was literally waiting in the wings to take over, between the early evening and later performance at a Las Vegas casino in July, 1967, when Flo was fired from the group. Was this also, a purely business decision? Was Mr. Gordy willing to hear Flo's grievances about being relegated more and more to the background, when the fans loved her to be featured, and by many accounts, she was the "founder" of the group?
I really prefer Mary Wilson's unvarnished take on the Supremes' story, as presented in her wonderful books DREAMGIRL and SUPREME FAITH [both available in one volume]. She tells it like it is, and, along the way, exposes her own warts and blemishes, but also comes across as a rounded, real, fallible, wonderful person. TO BE LOVED didn't have nearly enough of that.
DREAMGIRL sold like hotcakes, while Mr. Gordy's book did rather poorly. Ms. Ross' book also sold poorly. A lesson??? If you're going to do a memoir, people will really relate more the more real you relate.
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