berry goody :: essays research papers

Berry Gordy Father of the Motown SoundBerry Gordy jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 28, 1929. He was the seventh born out of octet siblings. His parents migrated to Detroit from Georgia during 1922. They were part of a mass exodus of African Americans who left hand the South in the 20s and traveled to northern cities in search of advance economic futures. During that time jobs were plentiful in the factories, mainly the expectant iv automotive plants that like, Chrysler, Ford, Chevrolet, and General Motors. Berry and Bertha Gordy would instill in Berry Jr. and his brothers and sisters a strong work ethic and a belief that anything could be achieved through persistence. His family also had deep roots in business. Berry older owned a plastering and carpentry service, a general store, and a printing business. Gordys family believed in the philosophy of Booker T. Washington, which stressed economic independency for blacks. Gordy Sr. named his store after him. Berry Go rdy Jr. was heavily influenced by the ambition of his father.Like his father, he was also very determined and he tried many new ventures. Berry was an average student who bring in decent grades. Despite this he mulish to drop out of northeasterly High School to peruse a featherweight boxing career. He at one time even fought on the same card as the great Joe Louis. He had a brief but successful series of fights but decided to give up boxing in 1951. That same year he would then decide to try out the Army. He served for two historic period during the Korean War there he earned his high drill equivalency diploma. After his short stint in the army, he decided to put out a record store, which only sold spiel records. Berry forever and a day enjoyed listening to records in his basement and he had a great spang of music. Berry always hung around Detroits popular nightspots to hear the bebop jazz sounds. He was able to see the performances of famous artists like pianist Theloniou s monastic and saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker. Unfortunately, Berrys store eventually closed due to pecuniary difficulties.Gordy briefly found himself working at Fords Mercury plant, earning $85 a week. Bored with his assembly line job, he spent all of his free time writing claims. Berry would hum melodies and make up song lyrics in his head to break the monotony of everyday work. Berry soon began to get serious about song writing and he got his big break when he won a talent contest.