Interview With Al Abrams
Q: One of my research sources mentioned that the race riots in Detroit were amongst the most intense. Could you describe them to me?
A: I had left Motown and was working with Stax/Volt in Memphis by the time the riots erupted in 1967. I did fly back to Detroit and remember the sight and sound of tanks from the nearby armory on 8 Mile Road rumbling down the main artery of Greenfield Road. But that's the most vivid of my memories.
Q:Was racial equality a topic of conversation in the studios?
A: We didn't have to talk about it, we lived it every day. For example, I went to Chicago in 1959 in advance of an appearance by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on Jim Lounsbury's popular local version of American Bandstand. I checked in a hotel in the Hyde Park area -- that's where Barack Obama lived before the 2008 election. When Smokey came to pick me up for the TV show, he came up to my room and minutes later there was a knock on the door. The manager told me I had to leave the hotel immediately. "Why?" I asked. "Because you're not allowed to have Negroes in your room," he replied. "But this is no Negro, this is Smokey Robinson," I said. From that day on, I stayed in the same black hotels, rooming houses and private homes as the artists -- and had a better time.
Q: In your quote from the Jewish News, "I still believe I was the luckiest kid in all of Detroit that May of 1959." What makes you feel this way?
A: To become national promotion director and de facto PR chief for a group of recording artists at the age of 18 and without any previous experience was a major coup -- and what many other kids my age could only dream about happening.
Q: In your opinion what Motown songs best represent the fight against racism, and the fight for racial equality?
A: There is a great article from the Michigan Quarterly Review by Professor Mark Clague of UM that deals with this. It is worth your reading as it will answer that question -- and more -- in detail. Google "Al Abrams Mark Clague Motown" and it should pop up.
Q: What did you have to do in order to make Motown crossover to the white audiences and get accepted?
A: Motown's music and artists made the crossover and were accepted by white audiences. I made the media aware that this was happening.
Q: What do you personally think Motown's legacy is?
A: Motown is the only record label whose name also represents a genre of music. You don't hear people saying "I'm going to go home and play some Decca or RCA Victor or Columbia. And the fact that you are even asking me these questions 50 years later only underscores that conclusion. And as you'll see and hear in Israel, Motown is still big there as well. In fact, one of Motown's biggest fans in the world lives in Tel Aviv.
A: I had left Motown and was working with Stax/Volt in Memphis by the time the riots erupted in 1967. I did fly back to Detroit and remember the sight and sound of tanks from the nearby armory on 8 Mile Road rumbling down the main artery of Greenfield Road. But that's the most vivid of my memories.
Q:Was racial equality a topic of conversation in the studios?
A: We didn't have to talk about it, we lived it every day. For example, I went to Chicago in 1959 in advance of an appearance by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on Jim Lounsbury's popular local version of American Bandstand. I checked in a hotel in the Hyde Park area -- that's where Barack Obama lived before the 2008 election. When Smokey came to pick me up for the TV show, he came up to my room and minutes later there was a knock on the door. The manager told me I had to leave the hotel immediately. "Why?" I asked. "Because you're not allowed to have Negroes in your room," he replied. "But this is no Negro, this is Smokey Robinson," I said. From that day on, I stayed in the same black hotels, rooming houses and private homes as the artists -- and had a better time.
Q: In your quote from the Jewish News, "I still believe I was the luckiest kid in all of Detroit that May of 1959." What makes you feel this way?
A: To become national promotion director and de facto PR chief for a group of recording artists at the age of 18 and without any previous experience was a major coup -- and what many other kids my age could only dream about happening.
Q: In your opinion what Motown songs best represent the fight against racism, and the fight for racial equality?
A: There is a great article from the Michigan Quarterly Review by Professor Mark Clague of UM that deals with this. It is worth your reading as it will answer that question -- and more -- in detail. Google "Al Abrams Mark Clague Motown" and it should pop up.
Q: What did you have to do in order to make Motown crossover to the white audiences and get accepted?
A: Motown's music and artists made the crossover and were accepted by white audiences. I made the media aware that this was happening.
Q: What do you personally think Motown's legacy is?
A: Motown is the only record label whose name also represents a genre of music. You don't hear people saying "I'm going to go home and play some Decca or RCA Victor or Columbia. And the fact that you are even asking me these questions 50 years later only underscores that conclusion. And as you'll see and hear in Israel, Motown is still big there as well. In fact, one of Motown's biggest fans in the world lives in Tel Aviv.