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While there were popular African-American musicians prior to the 1960s, including Louis Armstrong, Ethel WatersCarl Van Vechten, 1938 Ethel Waters ( October 31, 1896- September 1, 1977) was an African American vocalist who performed jazz, big band, gospel, and popular music, on Broadway and off. Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania and died in Los Angeles, Cal, Mamie SmithMamie Smith ( May 26, 1883 September 16, 1946) was a vaudeville singer, dancer, pianist and actress, and appeared in several motion pictures late in her career. As a vaudeville singer she performed a number of styles including jazz and blues. She entered, Ella FitzgeraldCarl Van Vechten, 1940 Ella Fitzgerald ( April 25, 1917 June 15, 1996), also known as Lady Ella was one of the most important jazz singers, and the winner of thirteen Grammy Awards. Gifted with a three-octave vocal range, she is noted for her purity of to, Nat King ColeNat "King" Cole ( March 17, 1919 February 15, 1965) was a hugely popular American singer and jazz musician. Childhood and Chicago Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in Montgomery, Alabama. The year of his birth has been reported as 1917 and 1915, but acc, Louis JordanLouis Jordan ( July 8, 1908 February 4, 1975) was an African-American jazz and rhythm & blues musician, and one of the few such to sell well to mainstream audiences in the post swing music era. Louis Jordan was born in Brinkley, Arkansas; his father was a, and Chuck BerryCharles Edward Berry (born October 18, 1926), better known as Chuck Berry is an American guitarist, singer and composer. Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri and was the first member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ( 1986). He received Kennedy Center H, Motown was the most consistently chart-topping genre until perhaps hip hopHip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban , African American & Puerto Rican youth in New York and has since spread around the world. The four main elements of hip-hop are MCing, DJing, graffiti art, and breakdancing. Some consider beatboxing. In contrast to previous genres of black popular music, Motown soul used African-American performers instead of grooming white musicians for crossover fame. It was also the first genre of African-American popular music to move beyond simple lyricisms into the realm of socio-political topics, allowing for a wide range of African-American viewpoints to be expressed in song.

The Motown Sound was also defined by the use of orchestration, string sections, charted horn sections, carefully arranged harmonies and other more refined pop music production techniques. It was also one of the first styles of pop music of that era wherein girl groupThe equivalent of boy bands, but as the name implies featuring a group of female rather than male singers. Early Girl Groups Whilst exact definitions are of course arbitrary, it can be argued that the girl bands have a considerably longer history than boys were showcased as an act, as opposed to individual female artists. Such as The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas and the Marvelettes. The acts on the Motown label were fastidiously groomed, dressed and choreographed for live performances. Motown artists were told that their breakthrough into the white popular music market made them ambassadors for other African-American artists seeking broad market acceptance, and that they should think, act, walk and talk like royalty, so as to alter the less-than-dignified image (commonly held by white Americans in that era) of black musicians.

Many of Motown's most well known songs, such as all of the early hits for The Supremes, were written by the songwriting trio Holland-Dozier-Holland. The many artists of Motown Records collaborated to produce several hit songs, although the process has been described as factory-like (such as the Brill Building).

In the 1960's (from 1961 to 1971) , Motown had 110 Top 10 hits and artists such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Jackson Five and Gladys Knight were all signed to Motown Records. After Holland-Dozier-Holland left the label in 1968 over royalty payment disputes, the quality of the Motown output began to decline, as well as the frequency with which its artists scored #1 hits. Even so, Motown stil boasted a roster of successful artists during the 1970s and 1980s, including Lionel Richie and The Commodores and DeBarge . Berry Gordy sold his ownership in Motown to MCA and Boston Ventures in June 1988 for $61 million. Today a subsidary of Universal Music, Motown is still active as a record label, and has been home to artists such as Boyz II Men, Erykah Badu, and India.Arie. Stevie Wonder and The Temptations are still signed to Motown to this day.