Barrett Strong, ‘Money’ Singer and Motown Songwriter, Dead at 81

Barrett Strong, who scored successful with 1959’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” and went on to pen many extra Motown classics for different artists, has reportedly died at the age of 81.

“I am saddened to hear of the passing of Barrett Strong, one of my earliest artists, and the man who sang my first big hit “Money (That’s What I Want)” in 1959,” Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. stated partially through assertion. “My heartfelt condolences go out to his family and friends. Barrett is an original member of the Motown Family and will be missed by all of us.”

Born Feb. 5, 1941, in West Point, Miss., Strong’s household relocated to Detroit when he was only a little one. He grew up within the Motor City, singing in his church’s gospel group and finally turning into mates with such future stars as Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke.

It was Wilson who launched Gordy to Strong in 1957, and the 2 males quickly started working collectively.

Two years later, they’d report the primary hit for Motown. “Money (That’s What I Want)” happened unexpectedly, as Strong and Gordy have been improvising music concepts. Strong, riffing off of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say?,” got here up with the music’s distinctive piano half.

“I used to be enjoying, and then that little factor got here up and everyone stated, ‘What was that?!’” he recalled decades later to Morning Sun. “They said, ‘Let’s write some lyrics,’ and we had a music.”

Originally launched in (*81*) 1959, “Money (That’s What I Want)” reached No. 2 on the R&B chart and No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would go on to be coated by a slew of artists, together with the Beatles, the Kingsmen, the Rolling Stones, Jerry Lee Lewis and Led Zeppelin. The music would show to be the one hit of Strong’s recording profession as a lead artist, nevertheless he helped craft many extra profitable tunes for different acts.

Listen to Barrett Strong’s ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’

Working as a songwriter for Motown, usually alongside producer Norman Whitfield, Strong helped craft such timeless tunes as “War” by Edwin Starr, the Undisputed Truth’s “Smiling Faces Sometimes” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” which was recorded by each Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips.

Strong was additionally behind a handful of hits by the Temptations, together with “I Wish It Would Rain,” “Just My Imagination,” “Cloud Nine,” “Psychedelic Shack” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” the latter of which earned Strong a Grammy Award.

In 1972, Strong left Motown. He’d signal with Epic information and later Capitol, however his materials with each of these firms paled to his earlier label’s success.

In 2004, Strong was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Later in life, he’d look again on his Motown years with fondness.

“It was a great time,” he recalled in 2016. “We were just kids, and we did it for the fun, not the money. We enjoyed being at the studio all day, working. Nowadays people want the money first, which I can understand. But we used to put the product first and figured if we worked hard we would get paid. It was just an era.”