I just read this at the Soulful Detroit forum. I will post a newslink as it becomes available.

http://undercover.com.au/...px?id=6330

http://www.eurweb.com/sto...r47128.cfm

http://www.lastingtribute...ld/2904728
[Edited 9/17/08 9:11am]

R.I.P. Mr. Whitfield.

AlexdeParis said:

It's not too shocking. Norman has had health problems in the last decade.

Timmy84 said:

Yeah, but still. Droppin' like flies...

AlexdeParis said:

We all die sometimes, man... I'm getting over the shock of death.

That is shocking as hell. I didn't really see this comin'. I didn't even know he was sick. RIP Norman

silverchild said:

Yo, go here:

http://www.soulfuldetroit.com/forum/

They've been talking about his illness. They said people were taking him off life support because he was so ill, then reported that he was "in good spirits".

Now if someone tells you you're in "good spirits" and yet you get a stroke from diabetes (I think he suffered a massive stroke), that only tells you one thing: the grave.



Also, when they reported on his conviction from tax evasion, they said that Norman would be imprisoned only on house arrest because he was too ill to serve any time (I think it was three months).

Oh, no! Another great gone. R.I.P.

silverchild said:

I have been expecting it. I heard on the radio a few weeks ago that he was suffering in a hospital in LA from complications from diabetes. They weren't expecting him to make it much longer.

I really do hate this. This man is responsible for so many songs that shaped popular music. Some of my personal favorites are:
Take A Stroll Through Your Mind - The Temptations
Cloud 9 - Temptations
I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Gladys and Marvin
Car Wash - Rose Royce
I Wanna Get Next To You - Rose Royce
That's The Way Love Is - Marvin
Too Busy Thinking About My Baby - Marvin

...

Rest In Peace, Norman.....





...

...Papa Was A Rolling Stone - The Temptations





...Which Way Is Up - Stargard







tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

RIP

Revered Motown producer dies at 67

Norman Whitfield cowrote "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and helped define label's sound

BY BRIAN McCOLLUM • FREE PRESS POP MUSIC WRITER • September 17, 2008

Norman Whitfield, a producer and songwriter whose work propelled Motown Records into more ambitious musical territory, died Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 67.

Whitfield had struggled for months with complications from diabetes, and his prognosis had been day-to-day for several weeks. He had recently emerged from a coma.

“It’s a very sad day,” said Janie Bradford, who with Whitfield cowrote the Temptations hit “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby.”

Along with Bradford, Detroit producer Clay McMurray was among the many friends and Motown alumni monitoring Whitfield’s situation. He spoke with Whitfield by phone last week.

“It sounded like he was fighting with everything he had to get it together,” said McMurray. “Just fighting back.”

In the late 1960s the New York-born Whitfield helped push Motown beyond the sweet melodies and puppy-love tales of its early days into edgier, more expansive sounds. Incorporating rock elements and psychedelic textures into his work, he helped groups such as the Temptations keep pace with the ’60s musical revolution.

With collaborator Barrett Strong — himself in a Detroit hospital recovering from a stroke — Whitfield cowrote many of Motown’s biggest hits, including its single most successful song, “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” recorded by Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips.

Whitfield’s post-Motown years in the 1970s most famously included the 1977 hit “Car Wash” by Rose Royce.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been set.

I have mentioned Norman in several posts of mine over the years. Definately one of my all time favorite producers. May he Rest in peace.

Well it took a minute but everyone's now reporting his death. Make this a sticky.

Bump for a sticky and a merge of both Norman Whitfield topics.

The Detroit Free Press also reported today that plans are in the works for a BIG Motown 50 year celebration next year. I hope they do a nice tribute to Norman and all the other fallen Motown heroes.

Normy's plight is identical to my dad's. We usually hook up to watch sports, so we hoped to be home for the start of NFL season. Hopefully we can watch the World Series together.
[Edited 9/17/08 16:03pm]

Timmy84 said:

They don't hear you. This should be a sticky. This man was a musical god.

bsk3601 said:

Thanks. I'm trying to bump this as hard as I can, lol. I know June7 or luv4u see this! They were so quick to put the sticky on the Pink Floyd dude, lol.

daPrettyman said:

war-edwin starr
papa was a rolling stone-temptations
psycedelic shack-temptations
ball of confusion-temptations
down by the river-undisputed truth
[Edited 9/17/08 16:32pm]

RIP Norman Whitfield

diamondpearl1 said:

25 Miles - Edwin Starr
Hum Along & Dance - Temptations/Rare Earth/Jackson 5
Mama I Gotta Brand New Thing (Don't Say No) - Undisputed Truth/J5
End Of Our Road - Gladys/Marvin
Love Don't Live Here Anymore - Rose Royce
Do Your Dance - Rose Royce
Which Way Is Up - Stargard
Runaway Child, Running Wild - Temptations
Let Your Hair Down - Temptations
Just My Imagination - Temptations
Ooh Boy - Rose Royce

Man, he gave us so much good music. Bless his family in mourning.

That whole psychedelic era of the Temptations was... I don't have a word for it, it was so good.

Ima go put on the Pshydedeic Soul double album right now.

RIP Norman.

Holy cripes! I just read another article and it said the only #1 hits that Whitfield ever had were War by Edwin Starr and Car Wash by Rose Royce.

How can that possibly be?
[Edited 9/17/08 19:01pm]

DakutiusMaximus said:

It obviously can't, because I know off the top of my head that Marvin's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" hit #1 in 1968.

DakutiusMaximus said:

That is so fucking wrong in so many levels.
I'll give you a list of #1 hits Norman had over the course of his long career:

1.) "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" (#1 R&B, 1966)
2.) "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" (#1 R&B, 1966)
3.) "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (#1 R&B, 1966)
4.) "I Wish It Would Rain" (#1 R&B, 1967)
5.) "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (Gladys) (#1 R&B, 1967)
6.) "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)" (#1 R&B, (1968)
7.) "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (Marvin) (#1 pop, #1 R&B, 1968)
8.) "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (Marvin) (#1 R&B, 1969)
9.) "Runaway Child, Running Wild" (#1 R&B, 1969)
10.) "I Can't Get Next to You" (#1 pop, #1 R&B, 1969)
11.) "25 Miles" (Edwin Starr) (#1 R&B, 1969)
12.) "War" (Edwin) (#1 pop, 1970)
13.) "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" (#1 pop, #1 R&B, 1971)
14.) "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" (#1 pop, 1972)
15.) "Masterpiece" (#1 R&B, 1973)
16.) "Let Your Hair Down" (#1 R&B, 1973)
17.) "Car Wash" (Rose Royce) (#1 pop, #1 R&B, 1976)
18.) "Which Way Is Up" (Stargard) (#1 R&B, 1977)

EIGHTEEN NUMBER ONE HITS ON THE BILLBOARD SINGLES CHARTS between 1966 and 1977! Get it right. And that's SIX #1 pop hits! He's also had a UK #1 with Marvin's "Grapevine".

How about that!!!!!

BUMP FOR STICKY, MOTHAFUCKA!
[Edited 9/17/08 21:27pm]
[Edited 9/17/08 21:29pm]

And how about this for irony, the reason why The Temptations got 15 number-one hits on the R&B chart was mainly THANKS to Norman. From 1966 to 1973, Norman gave them ELEVEN number-one R&B hits and about THREE of them hit #1 on the pop chart while the rest either peaked at the top twenty or top ten.

Norman gave Motown in general about FIVE #1 pop hits between 1968 and 1972 (Marvin and Edwin giving him the other #1's).

So the media needs to get shit right.

Yo, thanks Timmy. I knew that couldnt' be the troof but i didn't have time to go research myself.