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The Chess - Motown Connection

© Barney Quick

In any business, there is a lot of networking and transitory association. That is certainly the case with black popular music. While rhythm and blues has always been comprised of subgenres based on locale, the architects of each sound have known each other and raided each other's talent storehouses. Since r&b is such an emotion-packed product, it stands to reason that some love triangles might coincide with the business intrigue. Such was the case in the way Chicago's Chess label helped spawn Detroit's Motown empire.

In the largest of the great industrial cities to ring the Great Lakes, a recording powerhouse grew during the course of the 1950s. Phil and Leonard Chess, two European immigrant brothers who loved black music, ran it. Their Chicago label was home to many blues greats, such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter. Chess and its subsidiaries, Checker and Argo, also boasted a stable of first-rate doo-wop vocal groups.

One such group, The Moonglows, hit big in 1955 with "Sincerely." That tune and others by the group advanced doo-wop into the realm of jazz harmonies and rich, disciplined bass and baritone parts. The Moonglows also sang background on the records of other Chess artists such as Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry.

The Moonglows' leader, Harvey Fuqua, was also singing some duets with his girlfriend, r&b star Etta James, on the Kent label, a subsidiary of Modern Records. Around 1960, he helped her land a contract with Argo.

A Detroit songwriter named Billy Davis helped Chess expand its activities. In 1956, he produced two sessions by a local quartet called The Four Tops, which didn't do much for the group's career, but increased Davis's value at the label.

Shortly thereafter, Davis also began collaborating with another Detroit music-business aspirant named Berry Gordy, Jr. They composed several hits for Jackie Wilson, as well as LaVern Baker and Etta James. These were released on a variety of labels. Some of these tunes were cowritten by Gordy's sister Gwen, to whom Davis had become engaged.

Gwen and her sister Anna ran a photo stand at The Flame Showbar, Detroit's most prestigious black nightclub. It was the premier place in town for industry types to meet and deal, and the perfect environment for these ambitious, attractive young women.

Gwen Gordy started a label, Anna Records. Leonard Chess loaned her the start-up capital, fifteen thousand dollars. Davis became her partner. The arrangement was to everyone's satisfaction until two Moonglows came to town.

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