| Author | Message | ||
  drums (drums) 1-Arriviste Username: drums Post Number: 4 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 155.91.6.72 |
Hello all, I have always wanted to know how BG thought up the names of his various labels. Especially this one. Who was responsible for the names and how were they thought up? D | ||
Tony Russi (tony_russi) 4-Laureate Username: tony_russi Post Number: 91 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 65.83.155.35 |
From what I remember, Mr. Gordy derived Tamla from a hit song "Tammy" from the late 50's. Ofcourse Motown was short for Detroits' nickname of Motortown(auto manufacturing). | ||
Gary (gary) 2-Debutant Username: gary Post Number: 29 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 208.48.224.2 |
BG was quite fond of acronyms and anagrams when it came to naming things. I forget what TAMLA stands for (Talent Management something or other as I recall,) JOBETE was the first two letters of his children's names, Joy, Berry and Terry. | ||
Phil (phil) 3-Pundit Username: phil Post Number: 50 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 212.129.36.91 |
In his book "The Motown Story", Don Waller writes :" Berry Gordy founds Tamla records in January 1959.Gordy originally wants to call it Tammie records, after the then popular Debbie Reynolds film of that title, but the name has already been taken." Tammie, Tamla, sounds similar ? | ||
Cool Ju (cool_ju) 2-Debutant Username: cool_ju Post Number: 22 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 64.12.116.138 |
Yeah Phil, IIRC that's what BG said in his autobio, too. | ||
Uptight (uptight) 3-Pundit Username: uptight Post Number: 56 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 24.55.0.68 |
Gary, you might be thinking of International Talent Management, Incorporated or ITMI (also pronounced "it-mee"). Besides the record manufacturing corporation and music publishing company, this artist management division was one of Gordy's corporations in the 1960s and 70s. It handled booking Motown artists for various venues. | ||
Uptight (uptight) 3-Pundit Username: uptight Post Number: 57 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 24.55.0.68 |
Tamla was not intended to be an acronym. It was inspired by Debbie Reynolds' record "Tammy" (sung in a movie) that BG loved. Since the name Tammy was already copyrighted, Gordy made up a similar name, Tamla. Eventually, Smokey & Claudette Robinson would name their daughter Tamla, after the record label. | ||
Jimmy Mack (luke) 4-Laureate Username: luke Post Number: 169 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.198.48.201 |
On one hand its hard to believe the man who wrote and produced soul records was into Tammy by Debbie Ryenolds--middle America's sweetheart without about as much soul as...on the other hand I guess its not hard to believe! | ||
Stonewall (stonewall) 5-Doyen Username: stonewall Post Number: 253 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.237.10.142 |
Well, we were served a portion of "TAMLA alphabet Soup" up above. The spelling was not "Tammie". It was "Tammy". Yes, BERRY was interestingly inspired by and enamored with this very popular, beautiful, whiter-than-white song named "Tammy". Yes, he did want to name his company Tammy Records, however, as someone correctly implied, the name was already copyrighted. There was never any movie named "Tammy". The name of the 1957 film is: "Tammy and the Bachelor". The "Tammy" that Berry was adopting was from the #1 song sung by the multi-talented DEBBIE (that's where the wrong "ie" ending on Tammie is derived) REYNOLDS. It was the title song from the movie. By the way, 'title" does not have to be the full name of a movie as long as the word(s) is in the movie title. Thus, "Tammy". Debbie Reynolds also acted in the Ross Hunter-produced movie. In fact, Miss "D.R." (what a coincidence) played the lead role of Tammy Tyree. Incidentally, Louise Beavers, a "Beulah" on the former t.v. series, played "Osia". Back to Mr. GORDY's name choice, IMO, I better like "Tamla"! (Message edited by STONEWALL on May 15, 2004) |
