Music
Norman Whitfield
1940–2008 · songwriter, record producer
Motown producer and songwriter who pushed the Temptations into psychedelic soul and co-wrote "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "War" and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone".
- Born
Harlem, New York City- Died
Los Angeles, California
aged 68- Birth name
- Norman Jesse Whitfield
- Detroit years
- late 1950s–1975
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Born in Harlem, Whitfield came to Detroit with his family in his late teens and finished school at Northwestern High School on West Grand Boulevard. At 19 he began hanging around Hitsville U.S.A., a few blocks away, until Berry Gordy gave him a job in Motown's quality-control department, deciding which records deserved release. He soon joined the writing staff and, from 1966, took over the Temptations from Smokey Robinson. With lyricist Barrett Strong he built long, dark, effects-heavy productions that brought war, poverty and politics into Motown's catalogue and won the company its first Grammy with "Cloud Nine". He also cut hit versions of the same songs with Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, Edwin Starr and the Undisputed Truth. Whitfield left Motown in 1975, after the company had moved west, and scored again with Rose Royce's "Car Wash" on his own label.
Highlights
- Produced virtually all Temptations records from the mid-1960s to 1974
- Co-wrote "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "War" and "Just My Imagination" with Barrett Strong
- "Cloud Nine" (1968) earned Motown its first Grammy Award
- Songwriters Hall of Fame 2004; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2024 (musical excellence)
- Founded Whitfield Records in 1975; produced Rose Royce's "Car Wash"
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
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.
Studied here · late 1950s
Northwestern High School (now Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy at Northwestern)
He finished high school here after his family moved from New York to Detroit.
Worked here · 1959–1972
Motown Museum
He began here in quality control and produced his Temptations classics in Studio A.