Barrett Strong, one of Motown’s founding artists and most talented songwriters who was the lead vocalist on the company’s first big hit “Money (That’s What I Want),” died Sunday. He was 81 years old.
The Motown Museum announced the death on social media Sunday but did not release further details about the death of Strong, who also collaborated with Norman Whitfield on such classics as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “War” and “Papa Was.” to Rollin’ Stone”.
“Barrett was not only a great singer and pianist, but also, along with fellow composer Norman Whitfield, created an incredible body of work,” Motown founder Berry Gordy said in a statement.
Strong was not yet 20 years old when he agreed to let his friend Gordy, who was in the early stages of building a music empire in Detroit, manage his career and distribute his music. In a matter of a year, Barrett went down in history as the pianist and vocalist on “Money,” which was released in 1960 and sold a million copies, Motown’s first big hit.
Strong was never able to approach the level of success of “Money” again. by himself, and decades later he fought to be recognized as a co-author of the work. But with Whitfield he formed a productive and eclectic songwriting team.
Although Gordy’s song “Sound of Young America” was criticized for being too sophisticated and repetitive, Whitfield and Strong’s dumbbell spawned hits including the ballads “I Wish It Would Rain” and “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me). )”. With “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” they scored a hit with a faster call-and-response tempo for Gladys Knight and the Pips, and a dark, hypnotic ballad for Marvin Gaye, their 1968 version being one of the biggest hits in music. Motown history.
As Motown became more politically conscious later in the decade, Barrett and Whitfield produced “Cloud Nine” and “Psychedelic Shack” for The Temptations, and for Edwin Starr they wrote the protest anthem “War” and its widely quoted line: ” War! What is it good for? Absolutely…nothing!” (War! What is it for? Absolutely for nothing).
“With ‘War,’ I had a cousin who was a paratrooper who was seriously injured in Vietnam,” Strong told LA Weekly in 1999. “I also knew a guy who used to sing with (Motown singer) Lamont Dozier who was wounded by a shrapnel and was crippled for life. You talk about these things with your family when you are at home and it inspires you to say something about it.”
Other Whitfield and Strong hits, notably for Temptations, they included: “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “That’s the Way Love Is” and the Grammy Award-winning “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.” Artists who also recorded his work range from The Rolling Stones (“Just My Imagination”) and Aretha Franklin (“I Wish It Would Rain”) to Bruce Springsteen (“War”) and Al Green (“I Can’t Get Next”). to You”).
Source-listindiario.com