On the last leg of the one-hour tour at the Motown Museum on West Grand Boulevard, where generations of music fans from around the globe make pilgrimages to see where Berry Gordy Jr. created an assembly line of stars and hits, the best is saved for last.
Patrons are typically awestruck when they quietly and rather reverently take four steps down onto hallowed ground, the tiny Motown Studio A that was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from 1959 to 1972.
It remains frozen in time, left just as it was when Gordy moved operations in 1972 to Los Angeles.
In the space long ago dubbed the “snake pit” due to the numerous microphone cords that still hang from the ceiling and walls, visitors view original Motown instruments and stand in the same place where Diana Ross and The Supremes recorded “Stop! In the Name of Love” and where David Ruffin provided the lead vocals for The Temptations’ hit “My Girl.”
In 1959, the 29-year-old Gordy, a former Golden Gloves boxer, Ford assembly line worker, and record store owner, purchased the building at 2648 W. Grand Blvd. and converted the former photography studio into one of the world’s most famous recording studios.
The “Motown sound” was created by talented writers, producers, and arrangers; pioneering sound engineers; and the legendary house band of musicians dubbed The Funk Brothers, who were often joined by Detroit Symphony Orchestra strings.
From 1961 to 1971, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Supremes, The Temptations, the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and others collectively scored over 100 Top 10 hits on the various Motown record labels.
“Walking into the studio really overwhelms people, and it often evokes emotional and spiritual feelings when they sense the creativity and talent that was once there,” says Robin Terry, the chair and CEO of the museum. Her grandmother Esther Gordy Edwards, a former Motown vice president and Berry Gordy’s sister, founded the museum in 1985.
“Celebrities at every level, be they musicians, singers, songwriters, and other entertainers, come here because I think they are drawn to this hallowed ground that inspires them,” Terry says.
Among the countless A-listers who have made the pilgrimage, (and sometimes repeatedly) are Paul McCartney, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson, Demi Lovato, Motown stars, various actors, and Wynonna Judd, the last of whom, according to Terry, once spent three hours in the famous space.
Recently, this writer, along with photographer Josh Scott, paid a visit to the famous studio to provide in these pages an inside peek at where all the magic happened.
Want to read more about Detroit’s music history? Click here for our A-Z guide to Detroit’s music scene.
This story originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on Jan. 6.
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