"Give it the Frankie Lymon treatment, ‘the little guy who lost his girl’ kind of thing, and we'll use it with the kids," he told Richards.
As Richards, Perren and Mizell worked on the song, Gordy grew more excited and made more suggestions. Finally, Richards said, "Berry, why don't you really get involved?" and the Corporation was born, ending up four equal partners.
"I Want You Back," the Frankie Lymon version of "I Want to Be Free," cost more than $10,000 to make, when most Motown singles were running about $3,000. There were lots of overdubs and work on phonetics with the youngsters from Gary, Indiana.
The Corporation wrote and produced three No. 1 hits in a row for the Jackson 5 in '69 and '70: "I Want You Back," "ABC" and "The Love You Save." These classic hits reinvigorated Motown and sent the Jacksons on their way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The greatness of the songs lies in their tight musicianship (Perren on keyboards; David T. Walker, Louis Shelton and Don Peake on guitar; Wilton Felder on bass and Gene Pello on drums), technical precision (mix and dubs by Richards) and the incredible energy of Michael and his brothers.
The Corporation had created a brilliant update of pre-soul music: carrying the vigorous doo wop of Frankie Lymon - with its very unfunky downbeats - 10 years forward with ringing, swinging guitars. Michael Jackson's leads possess a purity and intensity unclouded by the storms of adolescence, while his older, wiser siblings lend brotherly support.
Gordy was ecstatic because his era of Frankie Lymon, Jackie Wilson and Marv Johnson had briefly returned through the lungs of an 11-year-old boy - and proved commercially viable.
Richards' next effort was Diana Ross' second solo album, Everything Is Everything, which produced a huge hit in England, "I'm Still Waiting," that never made it here. "It broke my heart," Richards says.
Richards ran the West Coast office, produced, wrote and supervised, and time passed. By 1973, his contract was up with Motown.
Returning to his first love, Richards is now a successful dealer in film posters and memorabilia out of his Washington state home. He thinks fondly of Berry Gordy.
"Berry gave me autonomy and let me make my dreams come true," Richards says. "If Berry ever said 'I need you,' I'd come in a minute."
Article comments
1 - James Mclafferty
Nice Post eric :), Nobody can take his music away from him, and maybe he should be given another chance to show he really is the person he tries to tell us he is. The jackson five era is, even though i wasn't actually around at the time (i'm only 27), an amazing era five young hopefuls who took over motown. I seem to remember you saying you were a fan do you think you'd give him another chance eric now?
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks James - if he put out interesting music, I'd be happy to listen to it
3 - godoggo
I loved the Jackson 5 when I was a little kid. Still do. Some of his solo stuff is pretty good, I guess.
4 - Eric Olsen
the best of the J5 and his Off the Wall-Bad albums will withstand Jackson's own best efforts to tarnish them
5 - claire
Does anyone else ever feel a little stab when they see MJ doing his cute moves when he was just a kid. Have this magazine at home from the Observer and it has a picture of him just a little kid and a crazy afro and underneath the caption says 'Remember Me'.
I aquired this even before the allegations and felt a bit sad. guilty or not, how can someone be so disturbed.
6 - Eric Olsen
absolutely Claire, a tragedy what he has become of his own volition
7 - The Proprietor
Excellent article, Eric. I didn't know that Louie Shelton had played on the early Motown J5 sides - he's one of my favorite LA session guitarists, best known for his terrific work on The Monkees' "Valleri". The Corporation should've gotten some propers in "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown" - like H-D-H, their songs were consummately fun, well-crafted and have proven their staying power over and over again.
8 - Tan Hoang
A Motown Revival would be great... or even just a revival of that 50s sound. I get my oldies fix from radio and my iPod but listening to new music would be great.
9 - Eric Olsen
thanks TP, got it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Deke's a very interesting guy. I added in the link to his movie memorabilia site if you want to check it out.
Tan, an update of the classic Motown sound would be amazing, but I'm not sure what it would sound like!