Norman Whitfield Musical Legacy Lives On Pt.1

The mastermind Norman Whitfield

Norman Whitfield was born on 12^th May1940 in Harlem, New York and passed away on 16^th September 2008 in Los Angeles at the age of 68. He founded Whitfield Records in Los Angeles after his departure from Motown Records. He was known as the father of the “Psychedelic Funk” sound. Longer songs, heavy bass line, distorted guitars, multi-tracked drums and inventive vocal arrangements became the trademarks of Norman’s production outputs, mainly with The Temptations.

The Grammy Award studio project and
first for Motown Records and
Norman Whitfield

He developed the sound with the help of the Motown studio band “The Funk Brothers”, with the assistance of the legendary Paul Riser as conductor and strings and horns arranger. His innovative music production concentrated more on instrumentation and put less focus on vocals, which was a major departure from the Motown signature sound, the “Sound of Young America”, that made production and song-writing team Holland, Dozier and Holland famous.

Prior to Norman Whitfield’s departure from Motown Records, he produced and co-wrote with Barrett Strong the majority of The Temptations’ recording projects during the first ten years of the label’s operation into the early 1970s, with such songs as “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)”, “Ball Confusion”, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” and “I Can’t Get Next to You”. All these singles achieved platinum certification in America for selling over two million plus copies each. "Cloud Nine" won Motown Records its first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Vocal Group Performance of 1969. The Temptations’ recording projects produced by Norman featured the funky psychedelic sound which eventually created a large body of gold, platinum and multi-platinum certifications that still continue in the UK and America into the 21^st Century, making The Temptations the most certified black male vocal group in music history. He also produced the last major single at the old Studio A recording studio before it was turned into  museum.The single was "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" which received platinum award by RIAA for over two million copies sold in America and peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart week-ending 2nd December 1972 (1 week).

The gold certified album "All Directions"
that features "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone"

This demonstrates the excellent production ability of Whitfield and the sound engineer at the time, the legendary Russ Terrana (a white man who was responsible for the sound engineering and mixing of over 89 number one records for Motown Records from the mid 1960s to early 1970s) and the brilliance of The Funk Brothers studio band. The musical compositions of Norman and Barrett reflected the social unrest and violent disturbances that took place across America’s inner cities after the death of Martin Luther King and also America’s involvement in the Vietnam War during the late 1960s. Musically they were totally in tune with the current events of that time.     


                                         



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Significant Achievements in the Detroit Sound Pt.5

The original Temptations

Both Norman Whitfield and Smokey Robinson helped The Temptations became one of most popular vocal groups of the 20^th Century. The group has received over thirty RIAA certifications, including a multi-platinum certification for their 1996 release “The Temptations Greatest Hits.” 

Two more albums during the mid-1990s received platinum certification for the group, “All The Million-Sellers” and “The Temptations Give Love At Christmas.” They also collected platinum certifications for their singles “I Can’t Get Next To You”, recorded during the late 1960s and produced by Norman Whitfield, and “My Girl”, also recorded during the early 1960s and written and produced by Smokey Robinson. Both singles sold over two million copies each. According to the RIAA, The Temptations are now the second most certified group behind the Beatles. The Beatles have twenty four gold singles while the Temptations have sixteen gold singles to their credit. All The Temptations records features dynamic studio performance of The Funk Brothers and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra strings section and vocal support of The Andantes.

                                             ©Signaturesoundsonline2013-2016

Key Significant Benchmarks in the African American Black Music industry Pt 8

Rap artist extraordinaire Lecrae

Rap artist extraordinaire Lecrae is the most successful artist in gospel Hip Hop music. He is the president, co-owner and co-founder of the independent record label Reach Record, and the co-founder and president of the non-profit organization ReachLife Ministries.

Lecrae is quickly developing into one of the biggest music stories of the year and his Cinderella rise has been noted everywhere from Rolling Stone Magazine, XXL Magazine, Vibe Magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic and the cover of The Huffington Post Magazine to industry trades such as Billboard Magazine, Variety and Vulture. His performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, perfectly timed with his album’s release, had fans buzzing as he performed multiple hit records from his recently album “Anomaly”. He went on to  collects his first number-one album on the Billboard 200 Album Charts as his new “Anomaly” actually  opened at top the chart listing week-ending 14^th September 2014 (1 week)  It sold over 88,000 copies  according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's also the first chart-topper for Lecrae's label, Reach Records on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and the first album to top both the 200 and the Gospel chart simultaneously.

The album “Anomaly” is Lecrae’s best sales performance since the release of “Gravity” album in 2012, which debuted and peaked at number- three on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart with over 72,000 units sold that week. “Anomaly” is the Grammy winner's sixth number-one on the Billboard Gospel Albums Chart and his fifth leader on Christian Albums. (Most Christian hip-hop releases are eligible to appear on both sales charts.)

                                          

                                          Researched and compiled by               

                                          Mr K Tomlin Music Historian                   
                                          ©Signaturesoundsonline2013-2014