Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. - Fell in love with jazz guitarist, Slim Gaillard's young daughter, Janis Hunter. [1] He has been credited as one of the creators of the Motown Sound and of the late-1960s subgenre of psychedelic soul. Read Full Biography. Thu 18 Sep 2008 09.15 EDT. Following the death of Isaac Hayes last month, it's been a bad year for fans of heavily orchestrated, epic soul. Songs written by Norman Whitfield. Legendary songwriter and producer Norman Whitfield, the anchor of Motown 's early 70s movement toward funk, has died. But Berry did not want to damage Temptations' image by blatant political statement. Born in New York in 1943, Whitfield wasn't yet in his teens when R&B began exerting itself as a major musical force. When he was a teenager, he and his family settled in Detroit after their car broke down there. - Fell in love with jazz guitarist, Slim Gaillard's young daughter, Janis Hunter. Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu. All these accomplishments provided a significant boost to Norman Whitfields wealth. Whitfield was born in Harlem, where his main achievement was to become a skilled pool player. Lynn Whitfield's Early Life Whitfield was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the eldest of four children, and a daughter of Jean Butler, an officer of a finance agency, and Valerian Smith, a dentist. Nova Whitfield is best known for being the daughter of DcYoungFly, a rapper, comedian, and performer who has starred on MTV's Wild N Out. By Matt Wesley. His father, Friendly Womack, spotted Bobby's talent on the guitar at an early age, and Bobby was only Whitfield often recorded notably different versions of songs with different artists in search of a hit, and did so successfully in the cases of Edwin Starr, with "War" (1970; originally recorded by the Temptations), and the Undisputed Truth, with "Smiling Faces Sometimes" (1971; also originally by the Temptations). Car Wash - Rose Royce. At 19, Whitfield began frequenting Motown's Hitsville USA offices for a chance to work for the growing label. July 15, 2022 11:34 AM EDT. Childhood. Beginning with their soundtrack to the movie Car Wash, the group enjoyed a series of three hit albums and accompanying hit singles for Whitfield's label. More than that, however, Whitfield and his personal drive became an important part of the psychological dynamic of the label, often pushing Motown founder Berry Gordy to try out songs and sounds that he didn't fully appreciate himself, to their mutual benefit. A native of Harlem, New York, Whitfield spent most of his teen years in local pool halls. Mr. Whitfield, who had been charged with failing to report more than $4 million in income, was fined $25,000 and sentenced to six months home detention. In 1983, she appeared in the comedy film Doctor Detroit (1983), playing the supporting role of Thelma Cleland. Salli Richardson-Whitfield and daughter Parker during Golden Globe Gifting Suite - Boom Boom Room at Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, CA, United States. NEW YORK (AP) Barrett Strong, one of Motown's founding artists and most gifted songwriters who sang lead on the company's breakthrough single "Money (That's What I Want)" and later collaborated with Norman Whitfield on such classics as "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "War" and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," has died . Norman Whitfield was one of the architects of the Motown sound, from its early peak as a national label through its waning days of major chart success. Whitfield created a new group around this time out of the ruins of a failed Motown act called the Delicates and one ex-member of a group called the Preps -- he put Billie Rae Calvin, Brenda Joyce Evans, and Joe Harris together as the Undisputed Truth and, calling all of the shots for the group as far as songs and recordings, they became one of his two principal vehicles for his musical ideas. Miss Whitfield was born September 5, 1975 in Hollywood, a daughter of Norman Whitfield and Asari Graham. After her breakthrough as Josephine Baker, Whitfield had the recurring role in the ABC legal drama Equal Justice, appearing opposite Joe Morton. And the Temptations, whose singing had taken on a darker sound in 1968 when original lead singer David Ruffin was succeeded by Dennis Edwards, effectively became his "instrument," Whitfield conceiving ever more ambitious songs and productions in which to employ them; their singles and albums were his canvas, which he filled up with his songs, creating ever more involved and ambitious works in the process. Whitfield also appeared in The Women (2008), The Rebound (2009), and Mama, I Want to Sing (2011) and had many roles in low-profile B-movies. Whitfield's rise was down to a cocktail of talent, ego, luck and, most of all, persistence. Norman Whitfield Beckford, aged 97, of Hill Street, Seven Hills Estates and formerly of Matthew Town, Inagua, died at his daughter's residence on Sunday, December 12 th, 2021.. . He has been credited as one of the creators of the Motown Sound and of the late-1960s subgenre of psychedelic soul. Strong eventually went behind the scenes as a songwriter, teaming with producer Norman Whitfield in the mid-1960s to cowrite smashes for Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Edwin Starr and the . In 2005, he was sentenced to six months house arrest for tax evasion, avoiding imprisonment only because of diabetes and other health problems. From 2016 to 2020, she starred as Lady Mae Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network dramatic series Greenleaf, for which she won critical acclaim and garnered two NAACP Image Awards and a Gracie Award. After wood-shedding on local . .more .more 57 Dislike Share Save Alain Robert 12.3K subscribers Subscribe Comments 6 Add a. He was bad. SecondHandSongs is building the most comprehensive source of cover song information. The song also became one of the most valuable copyrights owned by Motown, as it was covered by hundreds of artists, most notably Creedence Clearwater Revival, both on an edited single, and as an epic-length jam on their perennially popular LP Cosmo's Factory. Norman Jesse Whitfield Birth 12 May 1941 Harlem, New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA Death 16 Sep 2008 (aged 67) Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA Burial Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles County, California, USA Show Map Plot Additionally, the 1968 single "Cloud Nine" became the first Motown record to win a Grammy Award, for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance by a Duo or Group. Beginning in the '80s and with the decline of disco, however, Whitfield was virtually unheard as either a producer or songwriter, except for the omnipresent reissues of his 13 years of Motown productions -- in that regard, in 2002 and 2003, the Undisputed Truth were the subject of separate compilations on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Temptations' catalog has been mined regularly and remastered with increasing frequency since the late '90s. Norman Whitfield, a Grammy-winning songwriter, producer and arranger for Motown Records whose many hits, including the signature song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," helped solidify the. In the meantime, he became an admirer of Berry Gordy as the latter emerged as the most promising new music entrepreneur in Detroit. his father's car broke down there. He was well known for working with Berry Gordy's Motown labels in the 1960s. Norman was raised in Harlem where he spent the majority of his spare time in pool halls. My thing was to out-Sly Sly Stone, Mr. Whitfield said. Mastered At - Sound Mastering Ltd Designed At - the-unknown.co.uk Marketed By - Ace Distributed By - Ace Credits I Can't Get Next To You - The Temptations. And even as the label's fortunes were starting to turn downward, Whitfield and the Temptations generated a triple-decker award-winning single in "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," which won two Grammys plus a songwriter's award. Whitfield was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the daughter of Jean (ne Butler), a former president of the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, and Dr. Valerian Smith, who was also a composer who wrote the musicals, The Supper and The Wake. It absolutely called upon everything I thought I could do at that point. In an interview with David Ritz for Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye (Da Capo, 1991), Mr. Whitfield recalled the deep influence of the new, hard-driving funk of Sly Stone, and how he tried to bring something of Mr. Stones sound to his work at Motown. Norman Whitfield Born 12 May 1940, New York, NY, United States Died 16 September 2008, Los Angeles, CA, United States Member of Popcorn and The Mohawks The Temptations, , Marvin Gaye, The Undisputed Truth, Rose Royce Also Known As Norman Jesse Whitfield [birth name] Genres Motown Sound Share Tweet Follow 7 followers ADVERTISEMENT Discography 3 Norman Whitfield, a long time friend and best friend during our growing up years, was laid to rest at the Lower Greens Creek Cemetery - he lived in Eastland at the time of his death. Norman Whitfield Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family Music producer, arranger, and songwriter Norman Jessie Whitfield was born on May 12, 1941 in New York City. In the early 1980s, Whitfield began working as a producer for Motown again, helming the Temptations' 1983 hit single "Sail Away" and the soundtrack to The Last Dragon.[1]. After a long bout with diabetes and subsequent health issues, Whitfield died in Los Angeles, CA, on September 16, 2008, at age 65. Auxiliary Post 5319. Photos by Larry Parham. Their version, almost a gospel rendition, was a huge hit, by some accounts the biggest-selling single in the history of the label up to that time; in its wake, the Marvin Gaye rendition, much more raw sounding (and also produced by Whitfield), was issued, and it chalked up even bigger sales than its predecessor. February 27, 2023 (74 years old) View obituary. 04:13. Ain't Too Proud To Beg - The Rolling Stones. The film grossed over $35 million against a budget of $8 million. New York-born music legend Norman Whitfield came to Detroit by chance. A junior figure at Hitsville, hungry for his big break, he hung around the studio watching more established producers such as Holland-Dozier-Holland at work. General Info Family Whitfield also starred in a number of movies in the 2000s and 2010s. Is she dead? He caught the psychedelic thing. How rich would Norman Whitefield be today? Norman Whitfield was born on May 12, 1940 (age 67) in New York City, New York, United States. She is the eldest of four children and a third-generation BFA graduate from Howard University. [6] He added contemporary song topics, moving from love songs to the social issues of the time, such as war, poverty and politics. Even when one of his songs was a hit, he would try the song in a different way, placing it with an artist who would take it in a distinctly different direction. Whitfield wrote or co-wrote more than 60 hits on the UK charts and 90 on the US charts. Rose Royce (whose members were originally Edwin Starr's backing band while at Motown) went on to record three more popular albums, and had two huge UK hits with "Wishing on a Star" (1977) and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (1978), but could never top the success of "Car Wash", which served as the theme song to the 1976 motion picture Car Wash. In his memoir To Be Loved, Motown founder Berry Gordy remembers the young Whitfield as a tall, shy man who earned a living in his teens as a hotshot pool player. Their separation was brief, however, as Shirley passed away on August 14, 2021. [3] After a highly publicized casting call, Whitfield was chosen over hundreds of women. That success was complicated by the growing antipathy of the Temptations themselves, who sometimes felt like backup participants on their own records amid Whitfield's production efforts -- and Whitfield's prominent visual presence on Masterpiece's artwork -- a rare level of prominence for a producer -- couldn't have helped matters with the group. Norman Whitfield, who co-wrote a string of Motown classics including "War" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," has died at 67. Associated With He wrote and produced songs for several legendary artists, including Marvin Gaye and The Temptations. From 2014 to 2015, she appeared in the ABC legal drama How to Get Away with Murder as villainous Mary Walker. THE WORKS OF WHITFIELD, AND THE PROMISE OF A DOCUMENTARY. [5][29], A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, Learn how and when to remove this template message, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Miniseries or Television Film, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story, Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special, Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Outstanding Performance in a Youth or Children's Series/Special, Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special, "Lynn Whitfield Facts, information, pictures - Encyclopedia.com articles about Lynn Whitfield", "What Becomes a Legend Most?
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