Harvey Fuqua

[Big Papa]

Fuqua founded the seminal R&B/doo wop group the Moonglows with Bobby Lester, Alexander Graves and Prentiss Barnes.

Mentored by Alan Freed, the group’s doo-wop harmony style achieved great success on the national R&B charts in the mid 1950s. Recording on Chess Records, Fuqua initially shared lead vocals with Lester, but eventually asserted himself as the leader of the group. This changed in 1957 when he, in effect, sacked the other members and installed a new group, previously known as the Marquees, which included Marvin Gaye. The new group, billed as Harvey and the Moonglows, had immediate further success, but Fuqua left in 1958. The Moonglows reunited temporarily in 1972, and in 2000 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Fuqua left the Moonglows when Leonard Chess suggested that he join Anna Records in Detroit. At Anna Records, Fuqua began working with Anna Gordy, Billy Davis, Lamont Dozier and Johnny Bristol. He also introduced Marvin Gaye to Anna’s brother, Berry Gordy, and married their sister Gwen Gordy. In 1961, he started his own labels, Tri-Phi Records and Harvey Records, whose acts included the Spinners, Junior Walker and Shorty Long. However, tiring of running a small independent label, Fuqua welcomed the opportunity to work at Motown, and was hired to head the label's Artist Development department as well as working as a producer. Fuqua brought the Spinners and Johnny Bristol to Motown, and co-produced several hits with Bristol. He was also responsible for bringing Tammi Terrell to the label, and for suggesting and producing her duets with Marvin Gaye, including "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough" and "Your Precious Love”.

Around 1971, Fuqua left Motown and signed a production deal with RCA Records, having success particularly with the band New Birth. He also discovered disco pioneer Sylvester, and "Two Tons O' Fun" (aka The Weather Girls), producing Sylvester's hit singles "Dance (Disco Heat)" and "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" in 1978 as well as his album Stars in 1979. He also served as Smokey Robinson's road manager. In 1982 he reunited with Marvin Gaye to produce the singer's Midnight Love album which included the single "Sexual Healing". In 2000 he set up his own "Resurging Artist Records”, and has also acted as a trustee of The Rhythm and Blues Foundation.





Harvey & Motown
1960-1970

Harvey Fuqua arrived at Motown with the Spinners, Johnny Bristol, Junior Walker and Shorty Long. By his side was the young hopeful called Marvin, who still had no solo records to his name, let alone anything even vaguely resembling a hit. Nevertheless, Marvin had been busy. Harvey recalled, "during the year and a half that we had [my] labels, Marvin was playing drums on all of our sessions, and he was doing some night-club work. Everywhere I played you'd read 'Harvey, formerly of the Moonglows, also Marvin Gaye.' I'd do four or five numbers then I'd bring Marvin on, and introduce him as my protegé. And he'd do two numbers and almost kill me even at that time!"

While Motown's acts were riding high, Harvey's small roster soon found that a Motown contract did not automatically guarantee hits. However, their onstage performances frequently outshone their more successful labelmates. Using the experience he'd gained while grooming the Moonglows into an enviably-polished professional act, Harvey applied the same sheen to his own roster of talent. Simply playing the music was not enough in itself - the artists had to look and act the part - and learn how to entertain. It was not long before Berry Gordy became aware that Harvey's acts were running rings round his Motortown Revue onstage. This realisation was the beginning of Motown's Artist Development Department, and Harvey was given a free hand to gather the necessary personnel to make it a reality.

"Artist Development" was Harvey's brainchild, and he saw it through to fruition, then supervised the whole operation. Among the seasoned professionals he enlisted were choreographer Cholly Atkins - veteran of the legendary Cotton Club, musical director Maurice King, and 'charm school queen' Maxine Powell. The task of this Detroit branch of the "Impossible Missions Force" was to transform talented but raw and inexperienced youngsters into polished professional entertainers. Harvey was in control of the department, but left it to the individual tutors to work their own particular magic. ''It made us feel good that he had that kind of confidence in us," said Cholly Atkins, responsible for the slick dance routines for which Motown groups became justly praised. "But everything we were doing was his idea in the first place. Of course, Berry Gordy took credit for it.'' In retrospect, Harvey considers Artist Development to have been his most important contribution to the success of Motown in the sixties, even if the company never publicly acknowledged their debt to him.

"I'm sure you'd agree," Harvey commented, "whenever a Motown act played... they were always well polished. That came from my department. We had a regular schedule... we would start at ten in the morning. We drilled the whole thing into any and every artist before they'd make any kind of appearance anywhere. "

His erstwhile protegé Marvin of course became one of Motown's major stars, though Harvey's personal involvement in his music was actually fairly minimal. The two remained very close friends throughout their years with the company, though Harvey actively supervised only a small percentage of Marvin's recordings during that time. In addition, the two men were "family" - Harvey's wife was Berry's sister, and Marvin married another Gordy sister, Anna! Their close relationship probably also explains how Marvin managed to avoid going through the Artist Development mill. As brother-in-law to both Harvey and Berry, who was going to argue if Marvin ducked out of his dancing lessons?

Quitting Motown, Harvey also left Detroit behind and returned to Louisville, Kentucky to plan his next project. Once again he had his sights on his own record label, though unlike his early sixties ventures, this time he would not be distributing the records himself, by hand! Fuqua III Productions soon came into being, with an exclusive deal via the major RCA label. He also called in an old friend from his early days in Detroit. Ann Bogan, famous in the sixties as a Marvelette, actually hailed right back to the Harvey/Tri-Phi labels, when she recorded a couple of duets as half of Harvey and Ann. His new roster of talent also included the Niteliters, New Birth and Love Peace and Happiness, and while not achieving the world-beating status of Motown's stellar names, they saw very respectable sales and favourable reviews. By any standards, eleven Top 40 R&B entries is not exactly a failure!

[Shelley "SoleMann" King]

Excellent Big Brother Papa and a well deserved honor to have Mr. Harvey Fuqua in The OOTP Hall of Fame