Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, was born in 1929 in Detroit, and soon became interested in song writing. He was first successful in 1957 with the song "Reet Petite" which was recorded by another Detroit artist, Jackie Wilson, and then followed with "Lonely Teardrops", for the same artist, "Get A Job" and "You" for the Miracles and "Chock" for Eddie Holland. In 1959, he borrowed 700$ from his sister and rented the now famous house at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit. He rented this house as a base for his new company, Motown Records, planning to use it as an office, a studio and a residence. At first he intended only to use it to make demo records and master copies and to give them to large labels and not actually be a major record company himself. The first record company he used to get his artists into the music business was Tamla Records, and had a minor hit with Marv Johnson's "Come to Me". He then co-wrote and released "Money" for Barett Strong, which was a more successful hit, reaching number 2 on the R&B chart. Later that year, he recorded "Bad Girl", by a newcomer, William "Smokey" Robinson and the Miracles, and through Chess Records, it only reached 93 on the charts.
Smokey Robinson was to have a profound effect on Berry Gordy and Motown Records. Aside from his prolific song writing and musical skills and what success they brought to the company, he himself helped Gordy make some key decisions in what direction the company should take. He suggested to Gordy that Motown should distribute its own records instead of licensing them to other companies. Smokey told him to go national with his own product and, despite his attorneys' objections, he did so. The first song that he did this with was Robinson's own "Shop Around", which, released in 1960, hit the top of the pop charts and made Motown a major record label.
