Berry Gordy was a jack of all trades who quit a job at a Detroit auto factory in 1957 to become a professional songwriter. He wrote songs for several artists at Detroit's major black music venue, The Flame, and soon started writing songs and producing records. He wrote for Jackie Wilson and, through that connection, became friends with Smokey Robinson. With his early success, Gordy founded Tamla Records, which relied on larger record companies to distribute its music.
It was Robinson who persuaded Gordy that Motown should not only produce its own records but distribute them as well. Motown's first hit as an independent label was "Shop Around," performed by Robinson and his band, the Miracles. Motown's home was in a house on Grand Boulevard. Outside, Gordy posted a sign declaring it "Hitsville, U.S.A."
Motown signed an unprecedented roster of musical talent, including the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Martha and the Vandellas. The "Motown Sound" has distinct "melodies, lots of tambourines and hand clapping, blaring horns, interplay between the lead singer and his or her backup vocalists, driving bass lines and foot-slapping drum parts," according to Time.
Racial inequality in Detroit and America played a significant role in the founding of Motown. The company was a black-centered, black-owned business in the early 1960s, when Detroit, like many American cities, was still largely segregated. In 1967, years of racial tension erupted in Detroit in race riots that resulted in 43 deaths and more than 1,110 injuries, according to Rutgers University. Blacks suffered discrimination in Detroit on several fronts, including housing, job inequality and rapidly changing neighborhoods. The riots were the beginning of the end of Motown in Detroit.