Music industry veteran Berry Gordy, 83, will be honored with the Pioneer Award at this year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony for his tremendous career, reports Rolling Stone.
Gordy, who’s the subject of a new Broadway play Motown: The Musical, will be the second person to receive the honor. In 1959, Gordy created Tamla Records, which eventually became Motown and launched the careers of Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5.
“Berry Gordy is an innovator and a visionary,” said the Songwriters Hall of Fame chairman Jimmy Webb. “Yes, he created a label, but more than that, he created a genre. Think about it, he pioneered a marketplace for African-American artistry and then he invited the world in to enjoy it. Berry was way ahead of his time; his young and immaculately groomed and dressed artists were among the first to receive media training. Berry Gordy and the Motown sound are essential to the American music story.”
Gordy is no stranger to accolades, the legendary leader was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on June 13 in New York.