On track 12, the Temptations return with the 1965 recording of MY BABY. This song was recorded shortly after the group began to establish themselves. As we already mentioned, the Temptations' initial five-man lineup formed in Detroit in 1961 as a merger of two local vocal groups, the Primes and the Distants. Baritone Otis Williams, Elbridge (aka El, or Al) Bryant, and bass vocalist Melvin Franklin were longtime veterans of the Detroit music scene when they joined together in the Distants, who in 1959 recorded the single "Come On" for the local Northern label. Around the same time, the Primes, a trio comprised of tenor Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams (no relation to Otis), and Kell Osborne, relocated to the Motor City from their native Alabama; they quickly found success locally, and their manager even put together a girl group counterpart dubbed the Primettes. (Later, three of the Primettes -- Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard -- formed the Supremes).

 In 1961, the Primes disbanded, but not before Otis Williams saw them perform live, where he was impressed both by Kendricks' vocal prowess and Paul Williams' choreography skills. Soon, Otis Williams, Paul Williams, Bryant, Franklin, and Kendricks joined together as the Elgins; after a name change to the Temptations, they signed to the Motown subsidiary Miracle, where they released a handful of singles over the ensuing months. Only one, the 1962 effort "Dream Come True," achieved any commercial success, however, and in 1963, Bryant either resigned or was fired after physically attacking Paul Williams. The Tempts' fortunes changed dramatically in 1964 when they recruited tenor David Ruffin to replace Bryant; after entering the studio with writer/producer Smokey Robinson, they emerged with the pop smash "The Way You Do the Things You Do," the first in a series of 37 career Top Ten hits. With Robinson again at the helm, they returned in 1965 with their signature song, "My Girl," a number one pop and R&B hit; other Top 20 hits that year included "It's Growing," "Since I Lost My Baby," "Don't Look Back," and MY BABY.
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles return on tracks 13 and 14 with THAT’S WHAT LOVE IS MADE OF and THE TRACKS OF MY TEARS respectively. Both of these easy-listening Motown ballads demonstrate this group’s all-star performance. This easy-listening section of this volume concludes in track 15 with Marvin Gaye’s 1968 hit recording of YOU ARE A WONDERFUL ONE,
On track 16 Kim Weston cranks up the Motown soul rocker machine again with her 1965 recording of HELPLESS. The word entertainer alone does not do justice to the talent that is Kim’s. She is an artist in every sense of the word. It is her being. It is her calling in life. Kim Westonis what the American Spirit is all about: freedom and vibrancyHer first release on the Motown family of labels, "Love Me All The Way," earned her national recognition as a powerful and dynamic songstress. Kim followed this success with a string of memorable classics, HELPLESS. "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)" and her smash hit with late Marvin Gaye, "It Takes Two," written by William "Mickey" Stevenson. Later she recorded for MGM and released her definitive version of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which was quickly adopted as the Negro national anthem. Active as a performer from time to time in the U.K., Kim Weston's recorded works are understandably revered by R&B and soul music lovers the world over. In 1991 Motown released a retrospective, "Greatest Hits and Rare Classics” while Fantasy Records reissued her work with Stax. With Kim Weston, you experience a singer of songs, a vocalist for all seasons, a true soul survivor. Some people consider an artist to be a sculptor or a painter. Kim's paint brush and chisel is her dramatic and compelling voice. Each note paints a picture. Every verse tells a story that will stir your soul and move your very being.
Gladys Knight and the Pips rose to prominence on the Motown label in the late Sixties, but their popularity peaked after they moved to Buddah in 1973. On track 17 of this volume, they sing their 1967 hit recording of I DON’T WANT TO DO WRONG.
Gladys Knight and the Pips are a family, all born in Atlanta, where Gladys' parents sang in church choirs. As a child, Gladys herself sang with the Mount Mariah Baptist Church choir and toured southern churches with the Morris Brown Choir before she was five. At seven she won a grand prize on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, which led to several TV appearances. The Pips were formed in 1952 at Gladys' older brother Merald's birthday party, when, to entertain the family, Gladys arranged an impromptu singing group, including Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest. Cousin James Woods urged them to go pro; they adopted his nickname, “Pip.”
Gladys Knight was seven years old when she started her singing career in 1952 by winning $2000 for her rendition of "Too Young" on the TV show "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour." Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Gladys joined forces with her brother Merald, her sister Brenda, and their cousins William and Eleanor Guest, to form a vocal group later that year. They started performing gospel at the local church until 1957 when another cousin, James "Pips" Wood, suggested that they turn profesional. Taking his advice, they hired him as their manager and called themselves The Pips in his honor (later on it was used to stand for "Perfection In Performance").
Between 1958 and 1966 the group released records on various different labels, including one song ("Every Beat Of My Heart" in 1961) which was released on three labels and for which they never received royalties. They also toured extensively and had a few personel changes; Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest left to get married in 1959 and were replaced by cousin Edward Patten and Langston George who left again in 1962. Even Gladys left for a while to get married and start a family. When she returned in 1964, the line-up was final: Gladys Knight, William "Cousin Red" Guest, Edward "Cousin Ed" Patten, and brother Merald "Bubba" Knight.
Finally, after being without a recording contract and touring constantly for two years, Gladys Knight & the Pips were signed to the Motown subsidiary Soul in 1966. "They were unstoppable," Otis Williams of the Temptations said about sharing a stage with the group, "To be honest, they chewed up our butts but good....I said, 'Fellas we gotta go back to Detroit and do some more rehearsing!'"
Teamed up with songwriters and producers such as Johnny Bristol, Norman Whitfield, and Ashford & Simpson, it wasn't too long before they had their first hit. In 1967 "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," a Norman Whitfield - Barrett Strong composition, hit #2 in the US one year before Marvin Gaye recorded his own version. It stayed at #2 for its first three weeks and was nominated for a Grammy, eventually selling over a million copies. Other hits included "Take Me In Your Arms and Love Me", "The End Of Our Road", "Nitty Gritty", "Friendship Train", I DON’T WANT TO DO WRONG, and "If I Were Your Woman" which hit US #9 in 1970 and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
In 1973 Gladys Knight & the Pips' contract with Motown was drawing to an end. Feeling that her choice of material at Motown didn't allow her to sing enough gospel, country, and blues, Gladys Knight decided not to renew the contract. Feeling left out at Motown, the Pips also didn't want to continue there, and they moved on after having spent seven years at Motown. But they left on a positive note: Before they left, Gladys and her family had one more big hit - "Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)". Not only did this song reach #2 in the US and sell over a million copies, but it also won the group the 1973 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus.
After leaving Motown, they did very well, signing first with Buddha and later with CBS and MCA Records. In 1988, at the second annual Soul Train Music Awards, Gladys Knight & the Pips celebrated 30 years of recording by receiving the Heritage Award. Just the next year, though, they parted ways - Edward Patten and William Guest went into the ice-cream business while Gladys and her brother continued to tour. They briefly reunited again the next year to perform on the CBS special "Motown 30: What's Goin' On!" and in 1996 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The hard soul rockers continue on Track 18 with the Isley Brothers 1967 recording of TAKE SOME TIME OUT FOR LOVE.
One of the most successful funk/R&B groups of the '70s, the Isley Brothers -- originally Cincinnati-born siblings Vernon, Ronald, Rudolph and O'Kelly Isley -- first began performing in 1954 as a gospel quartet, winning a local following before the tragic death of Vernon Isley in a 1955 traffic accident.
The following year the surviving trio relocated to New York, where they struggled to gain recognition as a doo-wop act. In 1959 they finally landed a record deal with RCA Records, which released their Top 40 debut single "(You Know You Make Me Want to) Shout!" that same year; it became an instant classic, covered countless times in the years to come.

 Despite their initial success, the Isley Brothers failed to chart another single until 1952, when their cover of "Twist and Shout" (originally by the Topnotes) reached the Top 40. During the next few years the group struggled to repeat their success, touring constantly while their singles missed the charts. In 1964 a young Jimi Hendrix (then performing under the stage name Jimmy James) joined their backing group, lending some unique guitar work to their single "Testify." The following year the trio signed to Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown, and scored their biggest hit yet with "This Old Heart of Mine," a Top 20 smash which went as high as No. 3 in Britain. Encouraged by their overseas success, the Isley Brothers moved to England for several years, finally returning in 1969.
1969 was a year of transition for the Isleys. Parting ways with Tamla, the trio started their own label, T-Bone Records, scoring a No. 2 hit with "It's Your Thing," a more powerful-sounding cut which marked a shift in direction for the band and earned them a Grammy Award. Another big change was the addition of a full backing group comprising guitarist Everett Collins, siblings Ernie and Marvin Isley and the Isleys' cousin, Chris Jasper.
The new Isley Brothers became a hit-making machine during the 1970s, scoring nine consecutive gold/platinum albums, and charting a number of rock-infused funk singles, including a cover of Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With," "That Lady (Part I)," "Fight the Power (Part I)" and a remake of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay."
Toward the end of the decade, when disco became popular, the Isleys embraced the format, continuing their hit streak with singles such as "Take Me to the Next Phase (Part I)," "I Wanna Be With You (Part I)" and "The Pride."
Sadly, the Isley hit machine ground to a halt in the 1980s when lineup changes tore the group apart. In 1984 their backup group, sans Everett Collins, left to form their own band; two years later, O'Kelly Isley died of a heart attack. When Rudolph Isley retired from music to become a minister in the late 1980s, it appeared that the Isley Brothers were finished. However, in 1990 the Isleys re-formed with a new lineup that featured Ronald, Marvin and Ernie Isley.
During the '90s, the Isleys took their rightful place as respected elder statesmen of R&B. Fittingly, their 1996 album Mission to Please was produced by modern-day luminaries Babyface, Keith Sweat and R. Kelly. Their 2001 album Eternal (which features a guest appearance by popular R&B chanteuse Jill Scott) debuted at #3 on the Billboard album charts, making it their first artistic and commerical success of the new millenium.

On track 19, Edwin Starr sings one of his earlier hits from 1964, entitled AGENT DOUBLE-O-SOUL. Edwin Starr was an integral part of the soul and dance floor scene since the mid-fifties and the formation of his first band The Future Tones in 1956. He was on the road right to the end.
Born Charles Edwin Hatcher on January 21st, 1942 in Nashville, Tennessee, Edwin was raised and educated in Cleveland, Ohio.  In 1962, after completing two years of military service in the USA and Germany he moved to Detroit, the automobile city.   By the middle of the decade he was a member of the artistes on the up-and-coming RicTic label under Ed Wingate.   Together they released one immortal Northern Soul hymn after another. Songs like AGENT DOUBLE - 0 - SOUL, S.O.S (Stop her On Sight)" and "Headline News" laid the foundations for Edwins' continuing world-wide fame.
In 1968 mogul Berry Gordy swallowed up the Ric Tic artistes and Edwin suddenly found himself on the great Motown record label.   He got off to a good start with "I Am The Man For You Baby", but it was with "25 Miles" in 1969 that things really took off.  
Edwin was somewhat unusual member of the Motown family, he co-wrote some of his numbers and stood out from the Motown programme with his rough soul shout.  The visionary producer, Norman Whitfield (Temptations, Gladys Knight, Rose Royce) was looking for just this kind of voice.   He chose Edwin to sing the re-recording of the song "War, huh, Whatizzit Good For, Absolutely Nothing" and the single marched all the way to number 1.

The Four Tops, lead by vocalist Levi Stubbs, were one of the backbones of the Motown entertainment development. On track 20, they sing their 1964 million seller I CAN’T HELP MYSELF. Stubbs’ brother was the lead singer in the 1961 doo wop hit of YOU’RE SO FINE. (Listen to Volume 2).
The Four Tops' story is one of longevity and togetherness: these Motown legends teamed up in high school and spent over four decades without a single personnel change. In between, they became one of the top-tier acts on a label with no shortage of talent, ranking with the Temptations and the Supremes as Motown's most consistent hitmakers. Where many other R&B vocal groups spotlighted a tenor-range lead singer, the Four Tops were fronted by deep-voiced Levi Stubbs, who never cut a solo record outside of the group. Stubbs had all the grit of a pleading, wailing, gospel-trained soul belter, but at the same time, the Tops' creamy harmonies were smooth enough for Motown's radio-friendly pop-soul productions. From 1964-67, the Four Tops recorded some of the Holland-Dozier-Holland team's greatest compositions, including "Reach Out, I'll Be There," I CAN’T HELP MYSELF, "Standing in the Shadows of Love," "Bernadette," and "Baby I Need Your Loving." The group's fortunes took a downturn when their chief source of material left the label, but they enjoyed a renaissance in the early ‘70s, which saw them switching to the ABC-Dunhill imprint. Regardless of commercial fortunes, they kept on performing and touring, scoring the occasional comeback hit.
The Four Tops began life in 1953 (some accounts say 1954), when all of the members were attending Detroit-area high schools. Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir went to Pershing, and met Northern students Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton at a friend's birthday party, where the quartet first sang together. Sensing an immediate chemistry, they began rehearsing together and dubbed themselves the Four Aims. Payton's cousin Roquel Davis, a budding songwriter who sometimes sang with the group during their early days, helped them get an audition with Chess Records in 1956. Although Chess was more interested in Davis, who went on to become Berry Gordy's songwriting partner, they also signed the Four Aims, who became the Four Tops to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers. The Four Tops' lone Chess single, "Kiss Me Baby," was an unequivocal flop, and the group moved on to similarly brief stints at Red Top and Riverside. They signed with Columbia in 1960 and were steered in a more upscale supper-club direction, singing jazz and pop standards. This too failed to break them, although they did tour with Billy Eckstine during this period.
In 1963, the Four Tops signed with longtime friend Berry Gordy's new label, specifically the jazz-oriented Workshop subsidiary. They completed a debut LP, to be called Breaking Through, but Gordy scrapped it and switched their style back to R&B, placing them on Motown with the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team. After a full decade in existence, the Four Tops finally notched their first hit in 1964 with "Baby I Need Your Loving," which just missed the pop Top Ten. Early 1965 brought the follow-up ballad hit "Ask the Lonely," and from then on there was no stopping them. "I Can't Help Myself (Sugarpie, Honeybunch)" went all the way to number one that spring, and the follow-up "It's the Same Old Song" reached the Top Five. The hits continued into 1966, with "Something About You" "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)," and "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" all coming in succession. The fall of 1966 brought the group's masterpiece in the form of the virtual soul symphony "Reach Out, I'll Be There"; not only did it become their second number one pop hit, it also wound up ranking as the creative peak of the group's career and one of Motown's finest singles ever. During this period, the Tops also earned a reputation as one of Motown's best live acts, having previously honed their performances for years before hitting the big time.
The Four Tops kicked off 1967 with the dramatic Top Ten smash "Standing in the Shadows of Love," which was followed by the Top Five "Bernadette." "Seven Rooms of Gloom" and "You Keep Running Away" reached the Top 20, but toward the end of the year, the Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown over a financial dispute, which didn't bode well for the Four Tops' impressive hit streak. Their next two hits, 1968's "Walk Away Renee" and "If I Were a Carpenter," were both covers of well-known recent songs (by the Left Banke and Tim Hardin, respectively), and while both made the Top 20, they heralded a rough couple of years where top-drawer material was in short supply. They enjoyed a resurgence in 1970 under producer Frank Wilson, who helmed a hit cover of the Tommy Edwards pop standard "It's All in the Game" and a ballad co-written by Smokey Robinson, "Still Water (Love)." The Tops also recorded with the post-Diana RossSupremes, scoring a duet hit with a cover of "River Deep — Mountain High" in 1971.

When Motown moved its headquarters to Los Angeles in 1972, the Four Tops parted ways with the company, choosing to remain in their hometown of Detroit. They signed with ABC-Dunhill and were teamed with producers/songwriters Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who did their best to re-create the group's trademark Motown sound. The immediate result was "Keeper of the Castle," the Four Tops' first Top Ten hit in several years. They followed it in early 1973 with "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)," a gold-selling smash that proved to be their final Top Five pop hit. That year they also recorded the theme song to the film Shaft in Africa, "Are You Man Enough." Several more R&B chart hits followed over the next few years, with the last being 1976's "Catfish"; after a final ABC album in 1978, the Tops largely disappeared from sight before resurfacing on Casablanca in 1981. Incredibly, their first single, "When She Was My Girl," went all the way to number one on the R&B charts, just missing the pop Top Ten. The accompanying album Tonight! became their last to hit the Top 40.

The Four Tops rejoined Motown in 1983, the year of the company's 25th anniversary, and toured extensively with the Temptations. They also recorded a couple albums of new material which failed to sell well, and wound up leaving Motown amidst confusion over proper musical direction. Meanwhile, Levi Stubbs provided the voice for Audrey the man-eating plant in the film version of Little Shop of Horrors. The Four Tops next caught on with Arista, where in 1988 they scored their last Top 40 pop hit, the aptly titled "Indestructible." The Four Tops were inducted into the Rock ‘n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, and continued to tour the oldies circuit. In 1997, Lawrence Payton passed away due to cancer of the liver, which proved to be the only thing that could break up the Four Tops. After some consideration, the remaining members hired Theo Peoples to take Payton's place on tour.

The Spinners formed in a Detroit high school in the late fifties, and originally called themselves the Domingoes. The original line up was Bobbie Smith, Pervis Jackson, Billy Henderson, Henry Fambrough and George W. Dixon. Dixon left the group early on; he was replaced by Edgar Edwards.

Originally, called the Domingoes, the Spinners formed when the quintet were high school students in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale in 1957. At the time, the group featured Bobbie Smith, Pervis Jackson, George W. Dixon, Billy Henderson, and Henry Fambrough. Four years later, they came to the attention of producer Harvey Fuqua, who began recording the group -- who were now called the Spinners -- for his Tri-Phi Records. The band's first single, "That's What Girls Are Made For," became a Top Ten R&B hit upon its 1961 release and featured Smith on vocals. Following its release, Dixon was replaced by Edgar "Chico" Edwards. Over the next few years, the group released a series of failed singles, and when Tri-Phi was bought out by Motown in the mid-'60s, the Spinners became part of the larger company's roster. By that time, Edwards had been replaced by G.C. Cameron.