Isabel Wilkerson Quotes

I don't ever balk at being considered a Motown person, because Motown is the greatest musical event that ever happened in the history of music.

I worshipped Berry Gordy for the creative dreams he had made come true.

Motown was the mecca. It was every writer's dream to work there.

Nothing surprises me about Berry Gordy.

I lived on the north side of Detroit. Right down the street from me there was a young man by the name of Smokey Robinson. I was very proud to live down the street from him because he was our only celebrity in town. He was singing with the Miracles.

I got a poster from Columbia Records, and there's Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Ellington, Count Basie - everybody in that poster has died, I'm the only one left. And great players like Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan, it's hard to believe they're gone because we were all so close. But I believe in the future and the tradition will go on.

But it was great, we sit in the same dressing room where, like, Johnny Cash sat and Willie Nelson and all those guys. That was in itself something amazing - I was on the same space these guys stood on, ya know?

The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doin' now, man, for more years than I know. I got it from them.

Berry Gordy turned his house into a studio and discovered over 30 acts in the city. And we're famous all over the world.

And it was a very, very fruitful and great relationship between the Stones and The Beatles. It was very, very friendly.

I had the great opportunity to work with some of the greatest artists - the Beach Boys, the Temptations, the Four Tops. Otis Redding. Wilson Pickett. Stevie Wonder. So many great singers. And don't forget Clarence Carter!

Well, I'm a daughter of the great migration as, really, the majority of African Americans that you meet in the north and west are products of the great migration. It's that massive. Many of us owe our very existence to the fact that people migrated.

We teach young kids from 8 to 14 or 15 about their musical heritage through great songs written by American songwriters. We don't do too many modern composers, although we include songs from Billy Joel and other writers like him.

Following in the footsteps of Berry Gordy, I always admire what he did.

I come from a town of great musicians: Washington, D.C. It's no joke, that history.

Berry Gordy has always been this hazy legendary figure that I've known about in my childhood that was responsible for everything that I found important in the world.

The Great Migration changed American history not just for the migrants but for all of us. It made possible American cultural milestones like the Harlem Renaissance, Chicago blues, and Motown, just to name a few.

I really only knew the name Berry Gordy growing up, but I didn't know what he looked like or anything about him.

As soon as you pick up a guitar, you're up against the legends of rock. The same goes with stadium drum kits and electric bass. Essentially, you're already in a soundscape that's very familiar and has a lot of established legendary material recorded using those instruments.

My favorites are Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, but those are a little off in terms of getting Detroit right on the head. But of course, you know, "Dancing In The Streets." You can't forget the Motor City. And we can't forget the Motor City.

Music is fragile: people die, and it's forgotten.

Dizzy Gillespie would come by, eating gumbo. It was crazy. My grandparents were friends with all of them. Dee Dee Bridgewater, all of them, they'd come through.

Berry Gordy discovered more superstars than anyone I know. I grew up in that environment, and I know you can develop talent and market it.

When I first got to Motown, Smokey was already a fixture there. To me, he is one of the greatest songwriters and poets, so anything they ask me to do for Smokey is going to get a yes.

In order to understand the history of the banjo, and the history of bluegrass music, we need to move beyond the narrative we've inherited, beyond generalizations that bluegrass is mostly derived from a Scotch-Irish tradition with influences from Africa. It is actually a complex Creole music that comes from multiple cultures.