"Hitsville U.S.A." is the nickname given to

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

's first headquarters and

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

. The house (formerly a photographers' studio) is located at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

near the New Center area of the city. Motown founder

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and i ...

bought the house in 1959. Gordy converted the house to use it as the record label's administrative building and recording studio. After finding mainstream success from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, Gordy moved the label to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and established the Hitsville West studio working in television and film production as well as music production. Today, the "Hitsville U.S.A." property operates as the Motown Museum, which is dedicated to the legacy of the record label, its artists, and its music. The museum occupies the original house and an adjacent former residence.

West Grand Boulevard

In 1959, Gordy formed his first label, Tamla Records, and purchased the property that would become Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. studio. The photography studio located in the back of the property was modified into a small recording studio, which was open 22 hours a day (closing from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. for maintenance), and the Gordys moved into the second-floor living quarters. Within seven years, Motown would occupy seven additional neighboring houses: * Hitsville U.S.A., 1959: (ground floor) administrative office, tape library, control room, Studio A; (upper floor) Gordy living quarters (1959–1962),

artists and repertoire Artists and repertoire (or A&R for short) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for scouting, financing, and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. It also acts as a l ...

(1962–1972) * Jobete Publishing office, 1961: sales, billing, collections, shipping, and public relations * Berry Gordy Jr. Enterprises, 1962: offices for Berry Gordy Jr. and his sister Esther Gordy Edwards * Finance department, 1965: royalties and payroll * Artist personal development, 1966:

Harvey Fuqua Harvey Fuqua ( ; July 27, 1929 – July 6, 2010) was an American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, and record label executive. Fuqua founded the seminal R&B/doo-wop group the Moonglows in the 1950s. He is notable as one of the k ...

(head of artist development and producer of stage performances),

Maxine Powell Maxine Powell (May 30, 1915 – October 14, 2013) was an American etiquette instructor and talent agent. She taught grooming, poise, and social graces to many recording artists at Motown in the 1960s. Biography Born Maxine Blair in Texarkana, ...

(instructor in grooming, poise, and social graces for Motown artists), Maurice King (vocal coach, musical director and arranger),

Cholly Atkins Charles "Cholly" Atkins (born Charles Sylvan Atkinson; September 13, 1913 – April 19, 2003) was an American dancer and vaudeville performer, who later became noted as the house choreographer for the various artists on the label Motown. Biogr ...

(house choreography), and rehearsal studios * Two houses for administrative offices, 1966: sales and marketing, traveling and traffic, and mixing and mastering * ITMI (International Talent Management Inc.) office, 1966: management By the end of 1966, Motown had hired over 450 employees and had a gross income of $20 million.

Expansion and relocation

In 1967, Berry Gordy purchased what is now known as the Motown mansion, in Detroit's Boston-Edison Historic District, as his home, leaving his previous home to his sister Anna and her then-husband,

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

(photos for the cover of his album '' What's Going On'' were taken there). In 1968, Gordy purchased the Donovan building, on the corner of

Woodward Avenue A woodward is a Game warden, warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which b ...

and

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

, and moved Motown's Detroit offices there (the Donovan building was demolished in January 2006 to provide parking spaces for

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2005 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season, Pittsburgh S ...

). In the same year Gordy purchased Golden World Records and its recording studio became Motown's Studio B. In 1972, Gordy relocated the Motown Records headquarters to Los Angeles. The original Hitsville studios, which had produced a long string of worldwide hits, is now the Motown Museum. The next year, he reorganized the company; it became Motown Industries, an entertainment conglomerate which would include record, movie, television and publishing divisions. Many Motown fans believed the company's heart and soul were lost following the move and that its

golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

of creativity ended after its 13 years in Detroit. Esther Gordy Edwards refused to move to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and was put in charge of what was left of Motown's Detroit office in the Hitsville building.

Motown Museum

Edwards received several requests to visit the Hitsville building. She and her secretary put up posters and gold records. She also carefully preserved Studio A. Since 1985, the Hitsville U.S.A. building has been the site of the Motown Museum, dedicated to the legacy of the record label, its artists, and its music. On October 23, 1988,

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

donated a black fedora and studded white right-hand glove, along with $125,000 which was the net proceeds of the first show of his Bad World Tour on October 24 in The Palace of Auburn Hills, to the Motown Museum. Edwards's granddaughter Robin Terry is involved as both the board chair and CEO. Three of the original homes are used by the Motown Museum. Hitsville U.S.A. and the Jobete office are connected for the exhibit, which contains costumes, photos, and records from Motown's success era. Also featured are Motown's Studio A and Berry Gordy's upstairs apartment, decorated to appear as they did during the 1960s. The finance department is currently an administrative office. West Grand Boulevard was renamed "Berry Gordy, Jr. Boulevard" in the area where the Motown Historical Museum is located. The museum is one of Detroit's most popular

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

destinations. In October 2016, the museum announced a $50-million-dollar expansion plan in order to create space for interactive exhibits and recording studios. Since the announcement, the museum has received donations from organizations like The Kresge Foundation, the

AARP AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those 50 and older. The organization, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., said it had more than 38 ...

, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to help with both the expansion as well as community programming.

Motown's Steinway grand piano

The Motown piano is an 1877 Steinway & Sons Model D grand piano, used by many musicians including the

Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

studio band, at the Hitsville U.S.A. Studio B from 1967 to 1972. On July 24, 2011,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

was in Detroit for a performance at

Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium (Detroit), Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, t ...

, as part of his On the Run Tour; he visited the Motown Museum for a private guided tour. While touring Studio A, he asked to play the Motown piano, only to find that it was not in playing condition. McCartney supported a restoration by Steinway & Sons in 2012, and together with Berry Gordy played it during a charity event in September of that year. The piano had come into Motown's possession when it bought Golden World Records in 1967. The Golden World studio then became Hitsville U.S.A. Studio B. The piano is on display in Studio A at the Motown Museum.

''Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection''

In 1992, Motown released two four-CD boxed sets compiling 104 singles released during its "Detroit era", entitled'' Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection 1959–1971'' and 76 singles from its "Los Angeles era", '' Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection Volume 2 1972–1992''.

References

External links

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Motown Museum Expansion
* {{authority control Audio engineering African-American cultural history Music of Detroit Motown Recording studios in the United States Museums in Detroit Music museums in Michigan History museums in Michigan 1959 establishments in Michigan