Barrett Strong RIP

In the winter of 1959/60 my interest in music was just developing and I was blown away by one record I heard on Radio Luxembourg, namely 'Money' by Barrett Strong. It wasn't a hit and I was not to know that it was the precursor of the Motown sound that was to become so successful in the 1960s and 70s. It became one of the most covered songs of the era, with both the Beatles and Stones (among others) making somewhat unconvincing attempts at the song. As for Barrett Strong, he recorded some singles for Atco ('Seven Sins') and VeeJay and went on to become one of Motown's most successful songwriters with a string of hits for the Temptations in combination with Norman Whitfield, including 'Cloud Nine', 'Psychedelic Shack', 'I Can't Get Next To You', 'Ball Of Confusion' and 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone'. Other big hits included 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' for Gladys Knight and the Pips and Marvin Gaye, 'War' for Edwin Starr and 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' for Marvin Gaye. When Motown moved away from Detroit Barrett resumed his recording career with the albums 'Stronghold' and 'Live and Love' for Capitol. I'm sorry to hear of his death at the age of 81. RIP.