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A young Stevie Wonder, pictured during his Motown days, plays the harmonica in sunglasses against an orange backdrop

Making Motown

In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr founded Tamla Records in Detroit, MI, and within a year, he rebranded it Motown. Over the next decade, this small, black-owned record label pioneered an entirely new sound and launched the careers of some of the most famous performers in American music, including The Temptations, Aretha Franklin, and Stevie Wonder (pictured). 

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