Curtis McNair - The Man Behind The Album Covers At Motown

[KnightD12]

 

N.C. native Curtis McNair spent various parts of his 76 years as an inventor, artist, teacher and civil rights activist, but he is best known as the designer for some of Motown's best-known album covers, including Marvin Gaye's “What's Going On.” He's now retired and living outside of Wadesboro, with his wife, Donna, a prison chaplain.

McNair, would rather be known for marching for civil rights in the ’40s, helping to integrate the Army in the ’50s, and that he was among the first blacks hired at Chrysler’s corporate office in the early ’60s — a man of firsts. Instead, McNair is most known for his time at Motown where he created some of the most memorable album covers of the time.

On Friday, the McNairs make their first visit to the Belk Theater uptown, where several dozen of his covers will be displayed as part of a two-night Charlotte Symphony tribute to Motown, featuring the band Spectrum. Following are excerpts of an interview with McNair by reporter Mark Price


Q. How many covers are you bringing to the show?

About 70. That's not all the covers I designed. I don't have copies of about 30 percent. The ones I don't have are the ones I'm not proud of. We didn't have a big budget for covers, so I did what I could with what they gave me, including paintings, old photos, even busts.

Q. What's your best stuff?

Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Undisputed Truth, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and some lesser-known acts like Brass Monkey. Some of my favorites are ones by those little-known bands that Motown picked up in an attempt to break into the white market. They wanted to compete with the Beatles. Rare Earth was one. Another was called Magic and then there was Lost Nation, who I thought was a lot of fun. I did an album cover for them at the Ford Museum in Dearborn. They had to go to the restroom at one point, and on their way out, I noticed that the angles of the columns were interesting, so we took a picture of them outside the restroom door. That's the cover.

Q. Wasn't there a dispute over the famous Marvin Gaye cover?

I had a supervisor at the time who had taken the initiative to have a photo session for that without me. He laid these photos down on the table and told me what he selected to use. I disagreed, based on the content of the album. I said ‘OK, Marvin is the building. Let's ask him.' The two of us went to Marvin, who looked at my choice and said “I want that on the cover.” End of story. It amazes me the impact that album had. I got a call in the past year from a guy in Greensboro who fought in the Vietnam War. He'd heard about me and called to tell me that album helped get them through it all. It's amazing to imagine yourself being in Vietnam, listening to that album.

The cover is a portrait of Gaye wearing an expression of resolve, with the collar up on his black leather coat and flecks of moisture on his face and hair. McNair says the cover represents one of the few cases in which he photographed the recording sessions to get inspiration. He still has the photos.

“Marvin had half the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the studio, with all these jazz musicians, and he was directing them all, yet he could not read music,” McNair says, laughing at the thought.

“I could see how emotional he was, in terms of the essence of the album, and I wanted to match that. Marvin’s brother was in the military and had come back from Vietnam with stories of the carnage over there. Marvin was perplexed and he was trying to express that.”

The irony, of course, is that Motown founder Berry Gordy at first refused to release “What’s Going On” as a single, because he saw it as too political and uncommercial. Likewise, execs didn’t like McNair’s cover.

( The picture on the "Whats Going On" LP was taken in Marvin`s own backyard while it was sleeting. )

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There were other juicy tidbits in the article including stories on Smokey Robinson handing him a set of “bad pictures” and asking him to put the images together for an album cover and of course, there’s Diana Ross. It seems everyone wants to know about Diana Ross. In the article, McNair remembers Diana Ross as another act who typically got her way, including a time when Berry Gordy flew McNair from Detroit to New York City to personally tell him Ross’ face needed to be bigger on a Supremes-Temptations duet album. Ahh, the good old days.

“When a friend of mine recommended I apply for the job, I went to Motown expecting to see an art department with five or 10 people working. I remember asking, ‘Where is everybody?’ and I was told, ‘You are it.’ So, I was art director, designer and whatever else was needed,” recalls McNair.

McNair averaged 25 covers a year which, according to historians, is an amazing feat. The covers were mostly low-budget affairs utilizing colorized old photos, the combination of several photos into one drawing, and flipping photos upside down or backward. McNair’s techniques “created a badly needed new look for the label.”

McNair left Detroit in 1990 and life became simpler. He began work as an elementary school art teacher in Rockingham and here’s the part of the story I most enjoyed reading, in 2003, while visiting First Baptist Church in Wadesboro, he met his future wife, Donna Ingram. She, too, was at work on a second life having retired as an assistant superintendent with the Durham County schools to become a Pentecostal minister. The two were married in 2005 and now live on nine acres outside Wadesboro.

It is rare to find this kind of history. We will hear about the history of Capital Records, MGM, those who created the art in many corporations and advertising agencies but we will rarely hear or read the history of those men and women who wrote the lyrics, the music, or those creators of the art in companies like Motown or Stax. I was very glad to see this story on Curtis McNair

One last interesting fact, McNair did the covers for all of Motowns acts.................except one.
Berry Gordy hired an outside firm to do the covers for The Jackson Five. If ya ask me, he wasted his money.


Click Here For CURTIS McNAIR- MOTOWN ALBUM COVER DESIGNER INTERVIEW...


LIKE THE FUNK BROTHERS, THE PEOPLE THAT MADE MOTOWN GREAT ARE FINALLY GETTING THEIR CHANCE IN THE SPOTLIGHT WHILE THEY ARE STILL WITH US.

If you have a favorite Album cover, Motown or otherwise, share it here.

[Boo]

I just listened to the song, it's ok, just not my kind of music LOL.

[Edie Antoinette]

Some performers, such as Florence Ballard, were ground up in the Motown hit-making machine -- and a few, like Syreeta, found their callings and success in other parts of the music business. Born in Pittsburgh, Rita Wright had her sights set on a performing career, and luckily her family moved to Detroit when she was in her teens and she had the talent to back up the goal. She came to the company as a secretary and was later discovered by Brian Holland, one third of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, who began using her as a backup singer on various records and brought her to Berry Gordy's attention. He was so impressed with Wright's voice that he signed her up and later gave her a song, "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel for You," co-authored by Holland, Ashford, and Simpson, that originally had been intended for Diana Ross. In Wright's hands (credited to Rita Wright), the single did well enough, especially overseas, where she later discovered she had a serious following. Wright later met and fell in love with Stevie Wonder, and the two were married in September of 1970 -- by that time, she was using the name Syreeta, which is how she became best known to the public.
To Know You Is To Love You
Black Maybe


The personal union lasted only two years, but it led her into a new area of music, as a lyricist. Wonder began setting her poems to music, and she realized that she was able to write songs; their collaboration as composers and artists outlasted the marriage by three years, and led to some superb work in both departments. Their subsequent hits together included "If You Really Love Me," "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," and "It's a Shame" -- her biggest hits, "Spinnin' and Spinnin'" and "Your Kiss Is Sweet," were also Wonder/Wright collaborations. Syreeta released her first album under that name in 1972, on the Motown MoWest imprint -- Syreeta, produced by Stevie Wonder, was one of the more beautifully made records issued by the label in the 1970s and gave her voice the first fully realized showcase it ever had. They issued two more albums together, and she remained with the label for nine more years, as part of the tiny group of "inside" artists (along with her ex) who were more than just business acquaintances. She scored a number five hit in 1980 with the ballad "With You I'm Born Again," a duet with Billy Preston, and also recorded duets with Jermaine Jackson, among other artists on the label, during the early '80s. Syreeta retired from full-time music work in the mid-'80s in order to devote herself to her personal life and family, but she remained a much-loved artist from Motown's silver age. After a long battle with cancer, Syreeta passed away July 6, 2004. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

[Boo]

I couldn't keep from lol when I saw yall talking about the poor man's body parts, he must have been in the back of the line when the parts was being pasted out LOL.I will be waiting for the cuts

[Edie Antoinette]

Excellent post Miss. Bert..truly. You got me wanting to hear the cuts mentioned below. I may bring one or two over to share.

Thanks...♥

[Edie Antoinette]

That was a crazy period in time. Free Love Power. John and Yoko stayed in the bed for like a week or month or something like that. I was like...what in thee world??? I was so in love with them Beatles though..especially Paul and Ringo. I almost lost my mind when somebody stole my Beatles Bubble Gum Cards out my locker in 7th grade. I had two 4ft high stacks of em. You got 5 cards in every pack of bubble gum..so you know I was a pink bubble-gum smackin fool...Bwa ha ha ha ha!!!!!

[Boo]

She has the voice of an angel, the prose of our greatest poets, the gratitude of countless devoted fans. Syreeta did six albums for Motown and is best known to the general public for her hit duet with Billy Preston, “With You I’m Born Again.” But it’s her first two albums, produced by Stevie Wonder, who was then her husband, that are her artistic legacy.
Syreeta was first a Motown secretary, hoping for a break in the late Sixties, when producers Ashford & Simpson worked with her on “I Can’t Give Back The Love I Feel for You.” Her early work seemed to some like rehearsals for her elevation as lead singer of the Supremes, to replace Diana Ross, or to try out material for Miss Ross that was either rejected or ended up on her solo albums.

Then Syreeta began a personal and professional collaboration with Stevie Wonder. They worked together on Stevie’s Where I’m Coming From; she made a memorable cameo on the hit “If You Really Love Me.” While furthering his independence with the landmark album, Music Of My Mind, Stevie also co-wrote with Syreeta and produced her solo debut album, originally available on the short-lived MoWest label. Their personal life spills into the tracks, especially on the playful “I Love Every Little Thing About You,” which was also re-cut by Stevie for his album; and “To Know You Is To Love You,” appearing here in a longer, unfaded version than what was on the original vinyl. (Stevie later revived it for B.B. King.) The ethereal “Black Maybe” was later covered by Freddie Hubbard, in which the jazz legend attempts to re-create the beauty of Syreeta’s unmistakable voice. Rounding out the album are two covers, of The Beatles’ “She’s Leaving Home,” and Smokey Robinson’s “What Love Has Joined Together.”

[Shelley "SoleMann" King]

More like a Thimble....LOL

[Edie Antoinette]

LOL at yall...John's other body part does look strange..!!! Like a thumb...lol

[Boo]

Got to Be There was the solo debut album by then-adolescent Michael Jackson, released on Motown Records, released in September 13th of 1971. Although Jackson was only thirteen years old when he released the album, he demonstrated the vocal urgency of a grown-up veteran singer, as he had done on his records with his brothers in The Jackson 5. The cover to Michael Jacksons Got to Be There This is an album cover. ..
.

[Boo]

You know the old saying.....the early bird catches the worms.LOL.