As a record producer, he launched the Miracles and signed acts like the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Stevie Wonder.

Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in 2016, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021.

Berry Gordy II was led to Detroit both by the job opportunities offered by the booming automotive businesses,[5] and also by worries over the atmosphere in the American South, where black men were lynched "with chilling regularity by the Ku Klux Klan"; in the first twenty years of the twentieth century, 1,502 lynchings were reported, most in Southern states.

[13] The store was unsuccessful, and Gordy sought work at the Lincoln-Mercury plant, but his family connections put him in touch with Al Green (no relation to the singer Reverend Al Green), owner of the Flame Show Bar Talent Club, where he met the singer Jackie Wilson.

[14] In 1957, Wilson recorded "Reet Petite", a song Gordy had co-written with his sister Gwen and writer-producer Billy Davis.

In 1959, with the encouragement of Miracles leader Smokey Robinson, Gordy borrowed $800 (equivalent to $8,361.6 in 2023) from his family to create an R&B record company.

Gordy's next release was the only 45 ever issued on his Rayber label, featuring Wade Jones with an unnamed female backup group.

Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" initially appeared on Tamla and then charted on Gordy's sister's label, Anna Records, in February 1960.

In 1960, Gordy signed an unknown singer, Mary Wells, who became the fledgling label's second star, with Smokey Robinson penning her hits "You Beat Me to the Punch", "Two Lovers", and "My Guy".

[citation needed] Gordy's gift for identifying and bringing together musical talent, along with the careful management of his artists' public image, made Motown a major national and then international success.

Over the next decade, he signed such artists as the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Jimmy Ruffin, the Contours, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Commodores, the Velvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5.

[18] In 1972, Gordy relocated to Los Angeles, where he produced the commercially successful biographical drama film on Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross (who was nominated for an Academy Award), Richard Pryor, and Billy Dee Williams (cast in a role originally for Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops).

Gordy sold his interests in Motown Records to MCA and Boston Ventures on June 28, 1988, for $61 million (equivalent to $135,610,000 in 2023).

In 2016, Gordy received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama for "helping to create a trailblazing new sound in American music.

As a record producer and songwriter, he helped build Motown, launching the music careers of countless legendary artists.

"[24] Berry Gordy Square in Los Angeles was designated by the City Council at intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Argyle where the office of Motown was located.

[25] In 2021, he was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors alongside Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, Justino Díaz, and Lorne Michaels.

Gordy hoped that the musical would improve the reputation of Motown Records and clear up any misconceptions regarding the label's demise.

[40] His relation to Carter stems from his white great-grandfather James Thomas Gordy who owned a black, female slave named Esther Johnson.