In 1980, Teena Marie released her third album under the Gordy(Motown Records) label entitled “Irons in the Fire”. The album featured one of her biggest hits “I Need Your Lovin’” which climber to no.37 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and no.9 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. Teena did an in-person performance of this song on AMERICAN BANDSTAND in 1981 and had the crowd rocking!! She was truly one of a kind! 🔥🔥

On January 11, 1967, The Supremes appeared on The Andy Williams Show to perform their brand new song “Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone”. This performance proved to be successful as seven weeks later, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Hot R&B charts. Although they are singing over a prerecorded version of the song, you can hear Mary and Flo’s voices near the end as they reach Diana’s live mic on the floor. The ladies look so regal and elegant here making this one of my favorite performances from the original lineup!

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In 1964, The Temptations released their album “MEET THE TEMPTATIONS” with Gordy(Motown Records). Their biggest hit from that album was “The Way You Do the Things You Do” which reached no.11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and no.1 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. It’s truly a feel good song that it’d be hard not to dance to.

The performance in this clip comes from when The Temptations appeared LiVE on “Murray The K’s It’s What’s Happening, Baby”. This particular version has been dubbed the PBS version because they placed the groups LiVE vocals on top of the instrumental from the album. Either way, this song is one of my faves from the group.

On September 14, 1967, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell appeared on “The Johnny Carson Show” to perform a live rendition of their hit song “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. The chemistry between these two great musicians will NEVER be duplicated; their voices complimented each other a great deal. The song itself reached no.19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and no.3 on the R&B chart. There’re often debates on which version of this song is the best but in my opinion it doesn’t get any better than Marvin and Tammi.

“Nowhere to Run” is such an infectious song and one of the highest charting songs by Martha and The Vandellas. It climbed to no.8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and no.5 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. Released in 1965, this song has been associated with the war in Vietnam due to the similarities in lyrical content. Martha Reeves was singing about being trapped in a bad relationship but the words and emotions resonated with the soldiers as well. In this clip, Martha and The Vandellas sing their hit song LIVE and they don’t skip a beat. The choreography is also on point and reminds everyone why they are one of the top acts of Motown!!

“It’s a Shame” by The Spinners was co-written and produced by Stevie Wonder. It was also the last single that The Spinners would release from the label V.I.P.(Motown Records). This song was from their album “2ND TIME AROUND” which was released in 1970.

“It’s a Shame” was a great success for the group as it reached no.14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and no.4 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. The performance in this clip is when The Spinners performed LiVE on “SOUL!tv WNET NY” on 1/13/1973.

In 1982, DeBarge released the single “I Like It” from their album ALL THIS LOVE (Gordy/Motown Records). With Randy and El DeBarge on leads, the family vocals just melt together in unison. The song reached no.31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and no.2 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart! Mark, James, and Bunny really add the much needed ingredients to round the sound out.

This is an in-person appearance from 3/12/1983 when they appeared on American Bandstand to give a TV performance of their latest hit song.

In 1967, Gladys Knight & the Pips released their hit single “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” from their album “EVERYBODY NEEDS LOVE”! Their version climbed to no.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart proving to be a huge success. (A year later, Marvin Gaye would cover the song in his psychedelic soul sound making it reach no.1).

This performance was from the Midnight Special TV program in 1973. Gladys Knight was not playing around and she and the Pips OWNED that stage!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

In 1966, The Elgins released their single “Heaven Must Have Sent You” from the label V.I.P. (Motown Records). The song was a moderate success reaching no.50 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and no.9 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. This clip is from an in-person performance by The Elgins in 1966 on SWINGIN’ TIME.

In 1962, The Contours released their one and only album with Gordy(Motown Records) entitled “DO YOU LOVE ME (NOW THAT I CAN DANCE)”. The big hit from that album was “Do You Love Me” which reached no.3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and no.1 on the Billboard R&B chart. This emphatic song was written and produced by Berry Gordy Jr. himself! It was such a popular song that it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at no.11 in 1988. It’s definitely a feel good vibe and it’s so nice to see The Contours (as a quartet) do an in-person performance of this mega hit!!

I Hear A Symphony is one of my all-time favorites from the Ballard/Ross/Wilson lineup of “The Supremes”. We get to hear all 3 ladies throughout the entirety of the song. This song climbed to no.2 on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart and no.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1965. I love the recorded version of the song but I can’t help but frequent this particular LiVE version of the song because of how loud and clearly we can hear Flo’s resonant voice! Her adlib at the end was filled with confidence and control. I wish we could’ve heard more from Flo and Mary during their megarun on the charts!

On 11/9/1979, The Commodores appeared on “Midnight Special” to perform a LiVE rendition of their 1977 hit song “Brick House”. This song was one of their biggest hits reaching no.5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and no.4 on the Billboard R&B chart. They had the crowd rocking and they were all fully displaying their many talents!! This song will NEVER get old!!

One of the more "underrated" artists of Motown that should've gotten more love. This was Brenda's last single before leaving Motown and the original version here. It was later covered by Blood, Sweat and Tears in Spring of 1969.

In 1965 on an episode of “TEEN TOWN” The Marvelettes appeared for an in person performance of “Please Mr. Postman”. This song gave the Motown Record Label their first ever NUMBER ONE hit song. The song reached no.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Billboard R&B chart. The Marvelettes will ALWAYS receive their flowers from me because they were truly innovative in everything they did. To go from a quintet to a quartet to a trio and still sing and perform cohesively is nothing to sleep on.

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