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Bill Clinton, Danny Glover, Anita Baker and more Celebrate 50 Years of Motown!
(AP) On Jan. 12, 1959, Elvis Presley was in the Army. The Beatles were a little-known group called The Quarrymen casting about for gigs in Liverpool. The nascent rock 'n' roll world was a few weeks away from "the day the music died" _ when a single-engine plane crash claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens.
It's also the day a 29-year-old boxer, assembly line worker and songwriter named Berry Gordy Jr. used an $800 family loan to start a record company in Detroit.
Fifty years later, Motown Records Corp. and its stable of largely African-American artists have become synonymous with the musical, social and cultural fabric of America. The company spawned household names, signature grooves and anthems for the boulevard and bedroom alike that transcended geography and race.
And time.
Click here to read the full story.
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