Berry Gordy Jr., commonly known as Berry Gordy, is a famous American entrepreneur, film and television producer, music executive, as well as a record producer. In the music industry, Berry Gordy is perhaps best known as a founder of a record company called “Motown”, which was of course initially based in Detroit, Michigan. Gordy established “Motown” in 1959 and by 1972 he relocated the company to Los Angeles. Over the years, Gordy made “Motown” into one of the most popular record labels at the time, which fused pop music with an intricate style of soul music, a phenomenon which was later referred to as the “Motown Sound”. “Motown” reached commercial success in the 1960s and 1970s with such artists as Diana Ross and “The Supremes”, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, “The Jackson 5” and many others.
Berry Gordy Net Worth $365 Million
After its relocation to Los Angeles, the “Motown” company began getting involved in the film industry as well, and released such films as “Lady Sings the Blues”, in which Diana Ross played Billie Holiday, “Thank God It’s Friday” starring Jeff Goldblum and Debra Winger, “The Last Dragon”, which was co-produced by Gordy, and “The Wiz” with Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Ted Ross. Over the years, “Motown” expanded to include such major divisions as “Motown Records”, “Tamla Records”, “Gordy Records” and “Tamla-Motown Records”, as well as numerous R&B, country, jazz, rock and other record labels. In 1988, Gordy decided to sell the company to MCA and “Boston Ventures”. It was a rather profitable deal for Gordy, as he received $61 million for it.
A famous entrepreneur and record producer, how rich is Berry Gordy? According to sources, Berry Gordy’s net worth is estimated to be $365 million, undoubtedly accumulated mostly due to his involvement with “Motown”.
Berry Gordy was born in 1929, in Detroit Michigan. Gordy left high school in order to pursue a career in professional boxing, but he was recruited into the United States Army during the Korean War, which put a halt to his prospective career. Upon returning from Korea, Gordy showcased interest in music and songwriting, which inspired him to open his own music store called “3-D Record Mart”. Unfortunately, soon after its opening Gordy was forced to close the store, as it did not bring any profit. Around the same time, Gordy began working at the “Lincoln-Mercury” company, where he met the well-known performer and singer Jackie Wilson, for whom he co-wrote a song under the title of “Reet Petite (The Sweetest Girl in Town)”. Gordy then began working with Wilson and wrote him several other songs, the most popular of which turned out to be “Lonely Teardrops”, which was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Seeing as his songwriting brought him substantial amounts of money, Berry Gordy decided to open his own record label. In 1959 Berry Gordy founded the “Motown” company, for which he is currently most noted. Gordy’s contributions to music have been acknowledged with his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as the Pioneer Award given to his by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
