Music / Business & brands
Anna Gordy Gaye
1922–2014 · record executive, songwriter
Gordy sister and namesake of Anna Records, which distributed Motown's first hit; later a Motown songwriter and Marvin Gaye's first wife.
- Born
Oconee, Georgia- Died
Los Angeles, California
aged 92- Birth name
- Anna Ruby Gordy
- Also known as
- Anna Gordy
- Detroit years
- 1922–1940, mid-1950s–1971
- Field
- Music, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Anna Gordy moved to Detroit as a baby when her family left Georgia. After some years in California she returned in the mid-1950s and, with her sister Gwen, ran the photo concession at the Flame Show Bar. She began distributing records for Checker and Gone, and in 1958 Gwen and Billy Davis founded Anna Records in her name. The label gave national distribution to Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" and employed a young Marvin Gaye as a session drummer. When Motown absorbed Anna in 1961 she joined its songwriting staff, co-writing Stevie Wonder's "What Christmas Means to Me", the Originals' "Baby, I'm for Real" and "The Bells", and songs on Gaye's What's Going On. She married Gaye in 1963; their breakup inspired his 1978 album Here, My Dear. The couple moved to Hollywood in 1971.
Highlights
- Anna Records (1958) was named after her
- Co-wrote the Originals' "Baby, I'm for Real" and "The Bells"
- Co-credited on "God Is Love" and "Flyin' High" on What's Going On
- Co-wrote "What Christmas Means to Me" (1967)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · mid-1950s
Flame Show Bar
Demolished · 1949–1963
She and Gwen ran the club's photo concession. Demolished in 1965.