There might have been more than a touch of bravado at play when then-aspiring music mogul Berry Gordy dubbed his new Detroit home “Hitsville, USA” – but the iconic sign he hung outside not long after the 1959 purchase would feel like a quaint understatement just a decade later. By the end of the 1960s, Gordy’s Motown hit machine had clocked an incredible 79 Billboard top ten singles, spawning not just a generation’s soundtrack – while launching the careers of icons including Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder – but presaging a landmark era of racially integrated entertainment, affording … Continue reading As I Heard it Through the Grapevine turns 50, a look back at Motown hit machine