This blog considers every single released on every Motown label between 1959 and 1988. However, Motown didn’t just pop into existence in January 1959 with the first release on Tamla Records; the story leading up to Tamla’s foundation is worth going over, however briefly, to fill in the gaps prior to Tamla T 101.
Motown was really the vision of one man, Berry Gordy Jr., a former boxer and auto worker who ran a failed record store before taking the next step and forming his own record label.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Gordy was also an excellent songwriter, racking up some early credits in the mid- to late-Fifties with hits for Jackie Wilson (Reet Petite and Lonely Teardrops were two of his), and this reputation gave him, and his fledgling label, a credibility with artists that other tiny indies couldn’t match.
It was the paltry returns from Gordy’s early songwriting efforts, in particular a run-in with a non-paying publisher, which inspired him to get involved with the business side of the music industry as well as the creative side. Gordy’s first business venture of this kind, named “Rayber” – for Raynoma Liles Gordy (his then-wife, universally known as “Miss Ray”) and Berry Gordy – was primarily a songwriting and arranging company, but together with William “Smokey” Robinson of local band the Matadors (later Miracles) and a number of other local songwriters and performers, Rayber also dabbled in recording and production. They had access to a cramped, makeshift home studio, and corraled together a loose choir of backing vocalists who were christened “the Rayber Voices”, and who would later feature on a number of early Motown recordings.
Gordy also took a major step during this era in forming his own publishing house, Jobete Music Publishing, which would enable his fledgling label to sign songwriters as well as performers and hopefully open up a steady stream of revenue from that angle as well.
There definitely was at least one release on “Rayber Records”, I Can’t Concentrate by Wade Jones (more of which on the following page), but it’s unclear what relationship this bears to the Motown stuff. My guess was that this predated the formation of Tamla, perhaps as a tentative toe-in-the-water effort, a “dry run” at actually releasing a record rather than simply writing songs and licensing recordings; Robb Klein, in the comments section below, gives a much more plausible version of events, whereby “Rayber Records” only existed to shop the Wade Jones record, as a way of advertising Berry and Miss Ray’s services as writers, producers, arrangers etc.
Whatever the case, with the money from these early ventures, and an $800 investment from the Gordy family co-op fund – which wasn’t granted straight away, meaning the history of popular music might well have been irrevocably changed by a reticent plasterer had the family not been persuaded – Berry finally took the plunge and started a record label proper.
(That $800 turned out to be one of the all-time great investments; when Gordy finally sold his business in 1988, he made more than 61 million dollars, for a profit of some 76,250%, not to mention a lifetime of royalties. Not bad going for a self-proclaimed semi-literate boxer.)
Berry and Miss Ray had seen local teenage vocalist Marv Johnson in action – according to some accounts, they’d actually been present in the studio while Marv recorded his debut single for the Kudo label – and subsequently decided to release a local Detroit-area single by Johnson themselves, renting some studio time to cut the record (this being in the days before the famous “Hitsville USA” house on West Grand Boulevard was purchased).
It was therefore little-known Marv Johnson who had the first release on Tamla Records, which is where our story starts in earnest, and where my life disappears for the next couple of years. Buckle up.
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
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According to what I’ve heard from people who were in The Detroit music industry back in the day, and other people who talked to such people, and what I’ve read from researchers, Ray-Ber Music, Inc. operated in early 1959 (January through the end of April, or early May). Tamla Records was formed before Ray-Ber closed up shop. Tamla 101 (Marv Johnson’s “Come To Me”) was actually released BEFORE Ray-Ber 1001. Supposedly, Wade Jones came to Ray-Ber with two songs he wanted to record. Berry and Miss Ray told him they’d produce the recording session and get his record placed with a label to release it, if he’d pay for the recording. He did so. It appears that Gordy couldn’t place it with a label with good distribution, so he put it out on his own label. The fact that it was recorded before “Come To Me”, but was released later, may indicate that Berry wasn’t successful in shopping it. I wonder if Jones paid for the limited press run, as well. It is a DEAD rare record. I wonder if even 500 were pressed? Maybe only 200 were pressed. Only a handful are known to exist now. I’ve only known of a handful being in collectors’ hands since its release, and have only seen the copy I found in “circulation” (I looked through literally millions of 45s from 1959-1980).
The label design is exactly the same as Tamla 101 and Tamla 102, and shares the 1719 Gladstone address that was listed on those 2 Tamla Records. I believe that was the address of Ray-Ber Music’s operations. I believe, for all intents and purposes, Ray-Ber Records (their entire catalogue releases occurring while Tamla Records was in operation, and having the same ownership and employees, and operating from the same location) was, essentially, a sister label to Tamla. The Ray-Ber production company operated a few months before. But, as a single release record label, it was essentially the same people, and the same operation. The reason it was treated as a different entity from the Motown Catalog, is because all of Ray-Ber’s rights fell to Raynoma Gordy, while her share of Tamla Records and Jobete Music fell to Berry, in their divorce proceedings. Therefore, unfortunately, it couldn’t be included in the Motown Singles 1959-72 Sets. A pity, also that Berry’s early 1959 production of Herman Griffin and The Rayber Voices on Carmen Murphy’s House of Beauty Records also couldn’t be included in that project.
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Mr. Klein,
Do you happen to know anything about a company called B&H distribution? I have two copies of Rayber 1001 in my possession, both of which were found right here in Detroit. One that has multiple B&H stamps on the label, the other with none. Both copies, like most of the other survivors, are pretty well trashed. I’m curious as to why some have the stamp and others don’t…
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Thanks Robb! Great information, as always. I think your reasoning is sound, and that’s probably all that will ever be known about the Wade Jones record unless someone else steps forward?
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I collect motown records since 1974. I believe most of Robb says….but….Wade jones recordings are into the JOBETE’s catalogue (Berry was the owner, not Miss Ray) but never were released except 59 single; I really suspect there is a mystery on RAYBER records…but what is it?
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Juan, Berry formed Jobete Music before marrying Miss Ray. Therefore, it did NOT become community property. When they were divorced, Berry’s lawyer made sure ALL of Motown Records fell to his client, while Raynoma got cash, other assets (including all of Rayber Music and Rayber Records) as Berry’s wife, in the settlement. The music publishing rights were still held by Berry because it was HIS company that published the two songs, and he had started that company, himself, before they were married.
As far as we know, those two songs were recorded at Bristoe Bryant’s studio, with Berry producing, and no other recordings were made on Jones. He paid the fee to have them recorded. This seems to have been corroberated by Louvain Demps, who has told us she had met him (probably at 1719 Gladstone). I assume that it was difficult for him to scrape up the money to pay Berry and Ray for the production, music writing and publication, record pressing and distribution (done by Robert West’s firm), just for ONE record release. I doubt that he paid for a follow up (recording of two other songs). Louvain mentioned only the two songs being recorded, as did the people who were around at the time, and had talked to Ron Murphy.
I would be SHOCKED to find out RayBer recorded 4 songs on Jones. Gordy just wasn’t doing that in late 1958 and early 1959. He didn’t have his own studio, and didn’t have the money for so much recording. They had to get sales from the first record before funding the recording of cuts for a second. That was true for his Brian(t) Holland, Nancy Peters and Marv Johnson productions on Kudo Records, his Herman Griffin production on House of Beauty Records, and his Tamla 101 and Tamla 102 releases.
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A question to Mr. Nixon or anyone else. I was putting together a compilation of the complete Miracles singles from the Hip-O Complete 45s sets. Only when Ifinished it I noticed that “Got A Job” was missing. As this is an important part of the Motown prehistory, I’m wondering if anyone can provide a link to a pre-Motown/Tamla discography.
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I don’t know of a Miracles’ discography online, but their pre-Motown releases are few enough for me to list here:
acetate-“The Wind” (as The Matadors) – 1957
End 1016 – “Got a Job”/”My Mamma Done Told Me” – 1958
End 1029 – “I Cry”/”Money” – 1958
Chess 1734 – “Bad Girl”/”I Love Your Baby” – 1959
Chess 1768 – “All I Want Is You”/”I Need A Change”
End 1084 – “I Cry”/”Money” -1961 (re-release)
Of course, the two Chess records and the End re-release aren’t actually pre-Miracles Motown. But, I assumed that you want them, nevertheless. The Matadors’ recording of “The Wind” was a demo acetate that was presented to Robert West, and it’s whereabouts is not known. It is possible that he didn’t return it to the group.
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Wonderful Robb, thank you very much!
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Thank you, Robb. This explains all the many pre-“Shop Around” numbers on Greatest Hits From the Beginning (Tamla 254) that I otherwise never heard of, as well as accounting for no room left for items like “Ain’t It Baby,” “Mighty Good Lovin’,”…Pay Some Dues,” and “…The Man In You.”
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Not a dissenting post, just one of support! I found this site about ten minites ago and it looks like I will be spending an awful lot of time here, learning. Thank you Mr. Nixon for writing about all Motown’s treasures ;-)).
A Cellarful Of Motown mayhap?
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Was enjoying this thread (and the site) when I checked out the Wade Jones 7″ via discogs and noticed a second listing for a 7″ release on Rayber from The Five Stars (link below). Curious if anybody has info/previous knowledge of this (and whether it is even a legit Rayber release)
https://www.discogs.com/The-Five-Stars-Magic-Lazy-Daisy-/release/13258544
cheers // Eddie
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It as NOT a legitimate RayBer release. It is a bootleg of 2 cuts Berry Gordy produced on The Five Stars and leased to George Goldner’s End Records in 1958, to whom he had also leased his first 4 Miracles’ productions. Those 2 cuts were found on one of Goldner’s master tapes during the 1980s, and pressed up as bootlegs then. The Five Stars had formerly been The Five Jets (with Gordy’s songwriting partner, “Roquel” (Billy) Davis as lead singer and songwriter. Billy stopped singing to concentrate on songwriting and managing the group. After being The Five Stars, they changed their name to “The Voice Masters”. and recorded for Berry’s sisters’ label, Anna Records, for whom Berry also worked. The Voice Masters had three of the future Originals as group members.
RayBer Records had only the one Wade Jones release on their label, although there were several other RayBer Music Co. productions released on other labels. Mike Power’s schmaltzy, “I Left My Love In Paris” was a Berry Gordy production, published by Berry’s Jobete Music, which he and Raynoma could have released also on RayBer, but as it was an MOR record, whose song sounded like it came from “Tin Pan Alley”, whose music publishers were all Jews from New York, they thought it impressive to have the label name sound like a Jewish name. So, they named it Zelman Records. Their other productions were either leased to other labels, or named after the artists, who paid for their entire recording sessions and record pressings.
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