You can experience the magic of America’s golden era of soul music at Del Crary Park on Saturday (July 27) when Canada’s top Motown tribute band, Legends of Motown, performs a free-admission concert as part of Peterborough Musicfest’s 37th season.
Over the years, when quizzed on their musical influences, hundreds upon hundreds of music artists have listed one, or all, of the singers that recorded at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit from 1959 to the mid 1970s.
Nicknamed Hitsville U.S.A., Motown’s first headquarters lived up to that moniker and then some.
Under the guidance of founder Berry Gordy, the recording studio churned out a remarkable 110 Top 10 hits from 1961 to 1971.
Consider for a moment the Motown artist roster: Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Jackson 5, Gladys Knight and Marvin Gaye — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Motown’s production process was factory-like and that was by design. Gordy, who pre-Motown sought work at Detroit’s Lincoln-Mercury plant, presided over a quality control meeting every Friday, where newly recorded songs were listened to and a vote was taken on the release of each, with Gordy holding veto power. Even the hours at Hitsville U.S.A. mimicked those of a car plant. Open 22 hours a day, many of the songs we still know so well were recorded well before the sun rose. It was an assembly line of what’s proven to be timeless music.
Today a popular museum, Hitsville U.S.A. was home for the Motown family, the members of which gleefully collaborated with one another on songs and, for the most part, were genuinely thrilled when another met with chart success. In the music business, there remains few better examples of the success that can result when egos are left at the door.
VIDEO: “Legends of Motown”
The family feel, creativity and talent that anchored Motown’s heady success will be remembered and celebrated when Legends of Motown headlines Peterborough Musicfest.
Legends of Motown is the brainchild of Winnipeg born David Callender. A professional musician since his teen years, he performed with acts that paid homage to the likes of Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, and Fats Domino before creating Baby Love — a tribute to The Supremes, the all-female vocal group that was Motown’s most commercially successful act — in 2010. Five years later, knowing he was onto a very good thing, Legends of Motown came to be.
“People were out of their seats with excitement over The Supremes segment,” recalled Callender in a January 2019 interview with Roger Levesque of the Edmonton Journal.
“When I saw the audience reaction, I thought if we had the male voices, we could do the entire Motown show. I started looking around and handpicking musicians. I knew a guy who sings just like Stevie Wonder, so I got him, but it took years to find all the right voices. In the end, Motown has something so unique that it just rose above everything.”
The 16-member full band ensemble, featuring lead singers including Aria Zenua and Erin Reece, performs signature Motown hits including “Dancing In The Street,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Uptight,” “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” “My Girl,” “You Can’s Hurry Love,” “Baby I Need Your Loving,” and “Get Ready.” Impressive as that set list is, it barely scratches the surface of the near endless Motown catalogue.
“We’ve gone after real authenticity and tried to get the right person for every role in the show,” said Callender, a guitarist and keyboardist who is the tribute’s musical director.
“Not just the voices or the arrangements or the choreography, but to try and capture the sort of characters and personalities as best we can. We don’t cut any corners, whether it’s the costumes or whatever. We’re trying to get the essence — like it’s a time machine taking you right back to that era.”
Callender is convinced there’s not only an enduring appetite for the catchy Motown sound but also a desire to take in the showmanship and class that many of the era’s acts personified.
“It comes from a time when melody was king,” Callender said. “The Beatles and Berry Gordy knew that melody matched with rhythm would never take second place. The stories were simple enough for everyone to see themselves in them, where today a lot of songs don’t have that universal appeal.”
“There’s a particular Motown stomp kind of beat. You know when you hear it — that classic sound that goes with the tidy looking dresses and jackets. That was the tell-tale sound right up to the 1970s when things literally got funkier.”
While the Legend of Motown concert will definitely resonate with the Baby Boomers who grew up with these songs, the music of Motown appeals to everyone.
“We keep finding new generations of fans,” Callender said. “We get a lot more of the 50-plus crowd, people who were teenagers at the time, because it’s the soundtrack to their lives — their best times and sad times. They know all the words. But it’s not limited. Everyone has heard this music.”
VIDEO: “My Girl” performed by Legends of Motown
Bringing the Motown sound to a live audience involves more than just assembling top-of-their-game singers and musicians. The we’re-all-in-this-together atmosphere that permeated the Hitsville U.S.A. years has to be clearly evident and, in that regard, Legends of Motown delivers.
In that regard, Callender echoes words that were likely spoken by Gordy all those years ago.
“You get a sense of what this music means to people,” he said. “We’re privileged to have the opportunity to play it and transmit this positive energy is a real rush. It’s a labour of love and nothing but fun.”
Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its 37th season, each staged on Wednesday and Saturday nights until August 17th.
Overseen by executive director Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”
For more information on this concert or the 2024 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a headline sponsor of Peterborough Musicfest’s 2024 season.
