Synopsis: Set against the civil rights movement, the decay of America’s northern industrial cities, and the social upheaval of the 1960s, this is the inside story of the rise and fall of one of America’s most famous music labels. Berry Gordy was a 29-year-old songwriter when he borrowed $800 in 1959 and started Motown Records in a dilapidated Detroit bungalow.

Many of the label’s early stars were kids from Detroit’s inner-city projects, among them, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Smokey Robinson. They, and other artists, are presented as they lived and worked: a clan of friends and competitors, sometimes lovers, and occasionally vicious foes. At the height of their success, many struggled with the demons that frequently come with stardom—drugs, jealousy, sexual indulgence, and greed. The story of Motown is a made-in-America Greek tragedy, the rise and fall of a supremely talented yet totally dysfunctional extended family. 

Bio/Speaker Intro: Gerald Posner is an attorney turned investigative author. He is a Pulitzer finalist and New York Times bestselling author of 13 books, ranging from biographies of Josef Mengele and Ross Perot to reinvestigations of the JFK and Martin Luther King assassinations, as well as books about 9/11, Saudi Arabia, the heroin trade, finances and the Vatican, and his last book, about the American drug industry.  “A merciless pit bull of an investigator” says the Chicago Tribune. He is a regular guest on CNN, FOX, and NBC.

Posner’s book, Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power was published in 2000 to rave reviews.  “The most objective and accurate history of the label…” (S.F. Chronicle). It is the untold business story behind the hit music.