Joanne Bratton

Personal life, Joanne and after boxing

Bratton’s wife, now JoAnne Bratton-Jackson, went on to be a force in the music business, specifically soul music. With business partner and later husband Ed Wingate – already successful owner of The 20 Grand club and other businesses, she co-founded Detroit record labels that ran neck and neck with Motown. After Golden World Records, of which she was president, came Ric-Tic Records - named for her and Bratton’s son, Derek Bratton, and Wingate Records. She co-wrote a number of soul records, including "That's What He Told Me" and the flip side "Holding Hands," (co-written with Bob Hamilton, and released on Ric-Tic in 1965, sung by Rose Battiste). Motown owner Berry Gordy sought a partnership with the couple early on, but Jackson counselled Wingate against, and the result was a string of hits and an eventual buy-out by Gordy for around a million dollars, in 1966.