Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy is the founder of Motown records, this was in the 1960s.
He dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade in an effort to make money quick as a boxer, this attempt failed as he was drafted by the United States army for the Korean war.
Once he left the Korean war he started his own jazz based record shop called '3D record mart' which was funded by the Berry family. To get his business started he originally bought a two-family flat and moved his wife and kid into the upper storey. He then converted the downstairs and garage into his business area. At this time there was a lot of racial segregation and Berry Gordy wanted equal rights. He had a keen eye for talent but he knew that if he had black people on the album covers then he would get very few sales, so he never really put any faces on the covers.

Berry Gordy had worked with artists including: The Jackson Five, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson. Berry Gordy originally worked for Ford Motor Co. He quit his $85 per week job to become an independent producer. This would contribute to the reason for the name of his label. He named the record label 'Motown' because he was from detroit, which has the nickname 'Motor-town'

Traits and characteristics:
Risk Taker - Berry Gordy used all his family money to start up his record label, he also signed black people to his label even though there was a lot of racism at the time

Passionate -  He loved music so much that he was willing to risk all his families money to start up a record company

Revolutionary - He invented the conveyor belt approach to signing up artists. This approach is still used by record labels today

Weaknesses:

Berry Gordy took very big risks,  for example he promoted music made by black people in a time that was still very racist. This decision could have easily backfired and failed.