Berry Gordy III, known professionally 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 its subsidiaries, which was the highest-earning African-American business for decades.
As a songwriter, he composed or co-composed several hits including “Lonely Teardrops” and “That’s Why” (Jackie Wilson), “Shop Around” (The Miracles), and “Do You Love Me” (The Contours), all of which topped the US R&B charts, as well as the international hit “Reet Petite” (Jackie Wilson).
What is Berry Gordy doing now?
The Chairman has stepped down and likely taken his final bow in Detroit. At 89, Berry Gordy, the Detroit native who built Motown Records from a shoestring operation into a music, film, and television empire, told a hometown crowd, that he is at last retiring.
“I have come full circle,” he said onstage during Motown’s 60th-anniversary program at Orchestra Hall. “It is only appropriate (to announce this) while here in Detroit, the city where my fairy tale happened with all of you.”
