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Pragmatic Obots Unite

Pragmatic Obots Unite

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Monday Open Thread: Tales from Hitsville U.S.A.

June 5, 2023 by Miranda 148 Comments

Good Monday Morning POU! This week we’ll get some tea on the wild tales of Motown from various biographies of those who were there. Buckle up!

Raynoma Gordy Singleton – “Berry, Me and Motown.”

RAYNOMA GORDY-SINGLETON DIES – Soul and Jazz and Funk
In 1959, Raynoma was Berry Gordy’s girlfriend, pictured above. She was also a Motown songwriter, background singer, arranger and producer and she helped start Motown records. She is credited with convincing Gordy to open up a publishing company so they could publish their songs. Gordy selected the name “Jobete,” for the publishing company.

In January of 1959, Raynoma went downtown (Detroit) to establish their publishing partnership. About a week later, Raynoma was shocked when Berry asked her to go back downtown to change the paperwork, he wanted everything in his name, only.  She was stunned, she tried to respond but no words came out. Reluctantly, she did as she was told. This move caused her to miss out on untold millions over the years.

On their wedding night, Raynoma prepared for her honeymoon by soaking in a luxurious long hot bath. After she finished bathing, she waited for Berry in the bedroom. Instead, Berry entered the bedroom, walked right past her on the bed, ignoring her.

Berry changed into a expensive suit. She asked him, “You’re not going out, are you? He replied, “Yes, I am.”

She said, we just got married, this is our wedding night. He said, “So? What’s the big deal?” and proceeded to leave. Later, she found out that he had spent their wedding night with a mistress.

According to Raynoma, songwriter Barrett Strong’s sister informed her that the mistress was a girl named Margaret who worked in the “Hitsville,” office. Raynoma claims, she started receiving hundreds of calls from Margaret bragging about her affair with her husband and Margaret also informed her that she was pregnant with Berry’s child. Raynoma adds, Margaret even started referring to herself as Mrs. Gordy.

One evening, Smokey Robinson’s then wife Claudette called Raynoma and invited her to go bowling. Like Raynoma, Claudette couldn’t stand Margaret either.
When they entered the bowling alley, they see Berry, Smokey and Margaret. Raynoma storms over to Margaret and says, “Listen bitch, what are you doing here with my husband?” Margaret became nervous when she sees the gleam of the pearl-handled .25 in Raynoma’s pocket. Raynoma told her, “Get up now bitch, and walk out. Make one whimper and I’m going to blow you away.”

They walked outside. Raynoma planned to bash the handle of her gun into Margaret’s face, she raised her hand to strike but a pair of strong arms locked around her from behind. It was Smokey. I screamed “let me go,” as Margaret ran down the street for her life. Meanwhile, Berry glared at me from a distance.

Shortly after this incident, Berry and Raynoma divorced.

Source: “Berry, Me and Motown,” by Raynoma Gordy Singleton

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