had a school play and trips to New York City were considered a privilege for only the wealthy. My entrance into the world of theatre appreciation also marked the entrance into the world of school pride and music appreciation/performance when I saw Motown: The Musical sophomore year with the marching…
Diana Ross was born on March 26,1944 in Detroit Michigan. She was the second oldest of Ernestine and Fred Ross. She was originally named Diane but a clerical error resulted in her name being recorded as Diana on her birth certificate. Ross and her family originally lived in the North End section of Detroit near Highland Park, Michigan where she was neighbors with singer Smokey Robinson. When Ross was seven, her mother contracted tuberculosis, causing her and her family to move to Bessemer,…
On November 26, I went and visited an extraordinary places, and that place is called the Grammy Museum. It consists of many things some being exhibits about Michael Jackson, the Ramones and the birth of punk. There was even an exhibit dedicated to the Kingston Trio. All of these exhibits were extremely decorated with a lot of memorabilia. At first I honestly thought that this trip was going to be a bust, but in reality it wasn’t. It was actually very entertaining and fun because it contains lots…
it’s growing tall and wearing a lot of white, it’s smelling blood in your breakfast, it’s learning to say fuck with grace but learning to fuck without it, it’s flame and fists and life according to motown,” (lines 13-17) These lines tell the audience a lot of what the speaker went through in order to fit into society. She wore a lot of white in order to offset the color of her skin and make her look lighter, and learned how to say and do what society…
popular because of the way the sound affected people during the time period and these types of music were part of the harlem resistance till the 1950s. Throughout the 1950s and the 1960s rock ‘n Roll, Motown, Big Band, and Country were starting to become very popular.. As the 70s came along Disco, Motown, and even R&B were major genres especially because people were trying to express who they were through…
Stevie Wonder - Early Blooming Child Prodigy Stevland Hardaway Morris, Stevie Wonder, was born May 13, 1950. He was born in Saginaw, Michigan and was the third of six children from his parents Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. Stevie was born six weeks prematurely, which resulted in retinopathy of prematurity. The condition nullified the growth of his eyes and caused the retinas to detach; Stevie was blind. When Stevie’s mother left his father, they moved to Detroit with the children and…
numerous ways, increasing oil consumption. Secondly, because of the high demand, oil spills and deforestation from oil drilling destroyed more tracts of land and oceans than they ever had before. However Tucker explains that another consequence of the Motown cluster was increased rubber consumption for vehicle tires. More plantations were established to supply demand, increasing deforestation. Tucker explains this when he writes “In order to create the plantations, they clear-cut the forest,…
Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on August 29th, 1958 to Joseph Walter Jackson and Katherine Esther Scruse. Michael had 8 siblings, 5 brothers and 3 sisters. (Sullivan, Randall pg. 587) Michael and his mother were very close and he learned a lot of his character from her. “The lessons she taught us were invaluable. Kindness, love, and consideration for other people headed her list. Don't hurt people. Never beg. Never freeload. Those were sins at our house. She always wanted us to…
Margo Jefferson and Steve Knopper both recount the iconic performance of “Billie Jean” at Motown 25 by Michael Jackson in a very intriguing way, the passion and dedication of Michael Jackson comes across extravagantly in both cases with their move-by-move breakdown of the dance routine, in-depth analysis of the meaning of the song, and their respective comparisons to Michael's role models or peers. Jefferson and Knopper both explain every dance move that michael performs while he sang “Billie…
Stevie Wonder is a well-known singer-songwriter and record producer. He is well known for his rhythm and blues sounds. Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan on May 13, 1950. His original name was Stevland Hardaway Judkins. He was named by his parents Calvin and Lula May Judkins. Wonder was blind due to the fact that he did not receive enough oxygen in the incubator as a premature baby. He was diagnosed with retinopathy of prematurity, which made him blind. Wonder had numerous talents, which…