Music of Detroit

Detroit, Michigan, is a major center in the United States for the creation and performance of music, and is best known for three developments: Motown, early punk rock (or proto-punk), and techno.

The greater Detroit area has been the birthplace and/or primary venue for numerous platinum-selling artists, whose total album sales, according to one estimate, had surpassed 40 million units by 2000.

[4][5] The Detroit area's diverse population includes residents of European, Middle Eastern, Latino, Asian and African descent, with each group adding its musical traditions.

During the 1930s and 1940s, the near-east side neighborhoods known as Black Bottom and Paradise Valley became a major entertainment district, drawing nationally known blues singers, big bands, and jazz artists – such as Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Pearl Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie.

[7] Eventually urban renewal projects during the late 1950s and early 1960s demolished Black Bottom and replaced it with a freeway and the neighborhood centered on Lafayette Park, (designed by Mies van der Rohe and others).

In the 1920s, Detroit was home to a number of pianists who performed in the clubs of Black Bottom and played in the boogie-woogie style, such as Speckled Red, Charlie Spand, William Ezell, and most prominently, Big Maceo Merriweather.

He scored an early hit with his first single, "Boogie Chillen", and began a long career that made him the most prominent and successful of the Detroit blues players of the post-war period, as well as the most-recorded, with over 500 tracks to his credit.

Other notable musicians on the 1950s blues scene were the singers Alberta Adams and singer/guitarists Doctor Ross, Baby Boy Warren, Johnnie Bassett, Sylvester Cotton, Andrew Dunham, Calvin Frazier, Mr. Bo, John Brim and Louisiana Red; percussionist Washboard Willie; harmonica players Big John Wrencher, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Little Sonny, and Grace Brim (who also sang and played drums); and pianists Joe Weaver and Boogie Woogie Red.

Among them were The Butler Twins, Clarence (guitar and vocals) and Curtis (harmonica), who emigrated to Detroit from Alabama in 1961, joining a long list of blues forebears who came to work in the automotive industry.

[18][19][20] In March 2016, blues singer and guitarist Laith Al-Saadi was chosen to be a contestant on the musical competition series The Voice, and after impressing the judges with a version of The Box Tops' song "The Letter", Blake Shelton and Adam Levine both turned their chairs for his performance.

In the 1950s, Laura Lee and a young Della Reese began their long and distinguished careers coming out of the Meditations Singers, indisputably the premier Detroit-based, female gospel group of that era.

[11] Musicians from Detroit who achieved international recognition include Elvin Jones, Hank Jones, Thad Jones, Howard McGhee, Tommy Flanagan, Lucky Thompson, Louis Hayes, Barry Harris, Paul Chambers, Yusef Lateef, Marcus Belgrave, Milt Jackson, Kenny Burrell, Ron Carter, Curtis Fuller, Julius Watkins, Hugh Lawson, Frank Foster, J. R. Monterose, Doug Watkins, Sir Roland Hanna, Donald Byrd, Kenn Cox, George "Sax" Benson, Sonny Stitt, Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby, Roy Brooks, Phil Ranelin, Faruq Z. Bey, Pepper Adams, Tani Tabbal, Charles McPherson, Frank Gant, Billy Mitchell, Kirk Lightsey, Lonnie Hillyer, James Carter, Geri Allen, Rick Margitza, Kenny Garrett, Betty Carter, Sippie Wallace, Robert Hurst, Rodney Whitaker, Karriem Riggins, Major Holley and Carlos McKinney.

Other significant players who spent part of their career in Detroit include Benny Carter, Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Wardell Gray, Grant Green and Don Moye.

As this list reflects, Detroit musicians were major contributors to the hard-bop and post-bop styles, especially in the rhythm sections that drove the classic groups of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and contributions to the bands of Charles Mingus, Horace Silver and The Jazz Messengers.

Detroit has been the home to several well-known pop artists, including Margaret Whiting, Sonny Bono and Suzi Quatro, who may be best known for her role as Leather Tuscadero on the hit 1970s TV show Happy Days.

As Motown, it became home to some of the most popular recording acts in the world, including Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Edwin Starr, Little Willie John, The Contours and The Spinners.

In 1955, the influential soul singer Little Willie John made his debut, and throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Detroit-based R&B label Fortune Records enjoyed success with Nolan Strong & The Diablos and their hit songs "The Wind", "Mind Over Matter", and "The Way You Dog Me Around".

In 1967, longtime back room barbershop doo wop group The Parliaments, featuring George Clinton, scored a hit with "I Wanna Testify" for Revilot Records, and marked the beginning of funk in mainstream R&B.

[27] Motown Records relocated to the West coast 1972, yet Detroit remained an important center of R&B with acts such as Freda Payne, The Floaters, Enchantment, Ray Parker Jr. (both solo and with his group Raydio), One Way, Oliver Cheatham, Cherrelle, The Jones Girls, Anita Baker, and BeBe & CeCe Winans.

In 1975, Stevie Wonder's drummer Hamilton Bohannon had a hit with "Foot Stompin' Music", while Donald Byrd & The Blackbyrds infused jazz with dance friendly elements that produced the song "Change (Makes You Wanna Hustle)".

During the 1970s, several local Metro Detroit acts achieved national or international fame, including Bob Seger, Iggy Pop, Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad, and Glenn Frey of Eagles.

Destroy All Monsters featured artists Niagara, Mike Kelley, Carey Loren, and Jim Shaw as well as Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton in its later incarnation.

During the 2000s & 2010s, metro Detroit rock bands that had minor to major success and/or critical acclaim include: The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, Uncle Kracker, Taproot, The Von Bondies, Pop Evil, Crud, Jack White, Greta Van Fleet, La Dispute, The Hounds Below, We Came as Romans, The Nice Device, The Black Dahlia Murder, Great Lakes Myth Society, The Sights, The Go, Electric Six, The Waxwings, and I Prevail.

The Golden Gate, The Falcon Lounge, the Freezer Theater, Kurt Kohls' Asylum, and The Hungry Brain (named after the club in the movie "The Nutty Professor").

[49] In 1980, Detroit electro duo Cybotron formed; the group were a staple of the Electrifying Mojo, an influential FM radio personality who helped popularize hip-hop music.

[52] However, the growing popularity of the genre was not without problems, as rap shows in Detroit often ended in violence in the developing years of the city's local scene at concert venues such as Harpo's.

Despite the city being predominantly African American, many of Detroit's most successful hip-hop acts have been white rappers; such as Eminem, Kid Rock, Insane Clown Posse, and Twiztid.

[60] The late 1990s saw the launch of Detroit's booty bass scene, a sound that was popular at Belle Isle Park parties, with artists DJ Assault, DJ Godfather and Disco D, and fusions of hip-hop and techno with artists like Anthony "Shake" Shakir, Robert Hood, Daniel Bell, Claude Young, Kenny Larkin, Eddie "Flashin'" Fowlkes, and Stacey Pullen.

[51] The 2010s saw the rise of Detroit's underground hip-hop scene with artists such as Danny Brown, and the Crown Nation collective's Quelle Chris and Denmark Vessey, and Nick Speed.

[69] At least 25 groups or solo artists, non-performers and sidemen who are connected with the Detroit area have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, including Detroit-native Bill Haley, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Jackie Wilson, the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Hank Ballard, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, John Lee Hooker, Alice Cooper, Wilson Pickett, Martha and the Vandellas, Little Willie John, Parliament-Funkadelic, James Jamerson, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Bob Seger, Glenn Frey, The Stooges, Berry Gordy, Patti Smith and Eminem.