TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
Motown on UK TV
Hitsville UK 1957 -
Motown wasn't The Supremes, it wasn't The Temptations, it wasn't The Four Tops, it was Berry Gordy Jr, and at 93 years old at time of writing it still is, despite the fact that he sold the company nearly forty years' ago.
Gordy got started as a songwriter in Detroit in the mid-
In 1958 the Gordy written To Be Loved, originally recorded by Jackie Wilson, had
found itself the target of several cover versions in the UK. Dance band legend Victor
Sylvester had cut To Be Loved -
Gordy established Tamla Records in 1959 and he would now rightly concentrate his efforts on his own roster of singers and writers, despite sometimes having to licence the songs out to larger labels like Chess, United Artists and End. Due to its independent nature he would also have to start looking for international distribution deals, one of which would be with London Records in the UK. This new label venture meant having to bypass Jackie Wilson, signed to Chicago's Brunswick label. Wilson, by the way, came close to appearing on Jack Good's Oh Boy on 23rd May 1959, but had to cancel his UK visit.
Into the sixties and singing trio The Lana Sisters, featuring the soon-
Although things were picking up in the USA with their first major pop hits Money
(That's What I Want), Shop Around and Please Mister Postman, nothing was happening
in the UK. Tamla and its new sister label, Motown had moved its catalogue from London
Records in the UK to Fontana to no real effect. However, through paid-
By 1962 Gordy's Tamla/Motown empire had moved another rung down in the UK, with the catalogue now being released by the smaller, independent Oriole label. But people in Britain were now beginning to latch on to names on the label, Tamla, Motown, Gordy, Holland, Robinson. Bands like Freddie & The Dreamers, The Searchers and Brian Poole and The Tremeloes were now making up for lost time by covering these previously neglected classics.
Thankfully, the Cavalry were just over the horizon in Kingsway, London. Ready Steady
Go would be Motown's best mate in the UK. The first edition of the show on 9th August
1963 had Brian Poole & The Tremeloes perform Do You Love Me which would take them
to number one, with The Dave Clark Five plugging their version on Thank Your Lucky
Stars on 5th October 1963 and on The Five O'Clock Club on 8th October 1963, while
on Christmas Eve the same song would be heard performed by Faron's Flaminos in the
Mersey special Beat City on Associated-
In 1962 EMI in the UK created a new subsidiary label, Stateside, to handle releases
from America that had previously been released by the now defunct Top Rank International,
while also absorbing USA releases from other EMI labels Columbia, HMV and Parlophone.
It had a fine selection of USA catalogues like Scepter, Vee Jay, Musicor, Lauie,
Swan, 20th Century Fox, A&M, LeGrand among others, but by summer 1963 it was obvious
that Motown had been influencing the likes of The Beatles, Cilla Black, Helen Shapiro
and other acts from the EMI group of labels and maybe it was worth checking out Motown's
contract with Oriole. Luck was on EMI's side as the year-
It took until 1964 for Shop Around to get its due in the UK, despite the fact that
the Barrett Strong original was released here by London in 1959. Georgie Fame & The
Blue Flames gave it the once over on Ready Steady Go on 3rd January 1964, Marty Wilde
& The Wildecats did their version on The Arthur Haynes Show the following day, while
Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and Helen Shapiro also released versions that year. Little
Stevie Wonder seems to have stopped over in the UK as he made an appearance on Thank
Your Lucky Stars on 11th January 1964, but pre-
So it appears that by mid 1964 the Motown song catalogue was being admirably plundered by the great and the good, from Mersey to Birmingham to London, but what Motown now needed to do was to get its own acts on our screens. Although Little Stevie Wonder's Hey Harmonica Man was featured as Ready Steady Go's new theme from 7th August 1964, under the new deal with EMI Motown promised to send acts over for promotional appearances. Plainly The Supremes were the group that was given the most attention as they were unusually given two songs on the 8th October 1964 edition of Top Of The Pops, miming to Where Did Our Love Go and Baby Love, Motown's first number one single in the UK. Ready Steady Go hosted them the following day and then it was back to the BBC appearing on Open House on the Saturday 10th October, while their long weekend was completed by an appearance on ABC's Eamonn Andrews Show late Sunday and a recording for Thank Your Lucky Stars, broadcast 17th October. Having Monday off from TV they were back on Tuesday 18th on Rediffusion's Five O'Cock Club. Mary Wells had been given a prestigious spot supporting The Beatles on UK dates and she made her debut 24th October 1964 on ABC's Thank Your Lucky Stars, and she was given Sunday 1st November off to appear on The Eamonn Andrews Show. Kim Weston was next to head for London International airport, arriving in time for her debut on Granada's Scene at 6.30 on 12th November 1964. Her Ready Steady Go appearance on 27th November 1964 saw her in the company of The Beatles who had recorded several early Motown songs, before going across London for BBC2's Open House on 28th November 1964. Marvin Gaye was next to make it over to the UK, debuting on Granada's Scene at 6.30 on 18th November 1964, followed by his performance of Can I Get A Witness on Ready Steady Go two days' later. The Miracles found their passports in time to appear on Granada's Scene at 6.30 on 2nd December 1964, while their Ready Steady Go debut would be two days' later. Following a now traditional route they next headed for BBC2's Open House on Saturday 5th December 1964. Then up to Birmingham to record a clip for ABC's Thank Your Lucky Stars on Sunday, then back to London for BBC2's Beat Room 7th December, and then on Wednesday 9th December for BBC2's Top Beat. Whoever was booking all these acts on so many shows certainly deserved their Christmas break. They'd need it since 1965 would see the label and its acts move up a notch and make that label an international brand.
1965 started off not just quiet, but silent. No Motown acts appeared on UK TV promoting
their new Stateside releases. Little did we know that Motown were planning their
next move. 12th March 1965 saw both Little Stevie Wonder and The Temptations appear
on Ready Steady Go, with The Miracles appearing the following week. The Temptations
also popped up on Thank Your Lucky Stars on 20th March 1965. The following day The
Supremes made it to the Sunday Night at The London Palladium, and on to Ready Steady
Go on 26th March 1965 alongside The Miracles. The reason for the sudden influx was
the launch by EMI of the Tamla-