NORMAN WHITFIELD:
LOVE DOESN’T LOVE HERE ANYMORE
Friday, September 19, 2008
By VeTalle Fusilier
There would have been no Motown Sound without Norman Whitfield. Or no psychedelic soul. No Undisputed Truth. Norman showed us the Needle in a Haystack, let us know that there were Too Many Fish in the Sea, and gave us the courage to announce that we Ain’t Too Proud to Beg. Without him, we could have never have described a man’s action with Papa Was a Rolling Stone. I know you have left me, but I refuse to let you go:
I know I’m Losin You-the Temptations.
I heard it through the Grapevine Norman left us September 16, 2008. But I couldn’t have said that without having heard it first three ways, Marvin Gaye, Credence Clearwater Revival and long before chicken and waffles and insurance commercials, from Gladys Knight and the dancing Pips.
Gladys Knight and the Pips
While maybe Diana Ross was too extra extra, everyone had a girl that looked like Gladys in their neighborhood. I know I did. But that’s another story. And in the interest of her long and happy marriage, I won’t tell it.
Norman Whitefield was a Harlem child by birth, His family moved to Detroit so that his Dad could work in Barthwell Drugs, the family business. In his late teens, Norman began hanging around Hitsville USA, eventually landing a job choosing releases for the label. He joined the songwriting staff. Can you imagine writing songs at the same label as Smokey Robinson? Talk about the bar being set high. Norm had successes with the Marvelettes’ Too Many Fish in the Sea" and The Velvelettes' "Needle in a Haystack".
When"Ain't Too Proud to Beg" performed better than Smokey Robinson's "Get Ready" on the pop charts, he took over as the main producer for the Temptations in 1966, and the rest is American music history.
For almost ten years Norman and his lyricist partner Barret Strong wrote almost all the Temptations stuff. Think of your favorite Temps song and he probably wrote it. Norm and Barret were right in synch with the times and moved their music away from the romantic to the social issues of poverty, politics, and drug abuse. Cloud Nine won Motown its first Grammy, and eerily foreshadowed David Ruffin’s and Paul Williams’ fates, as well as popularized vocalizing the black experience in totality, the penthouse to the pavement.
Temptations cloud nine
Norman was right there with Sly, Marvin and the rest of us as we learned the lessons of race and politics. And he left the Temps as they grew frustrated with his emphasis on the guitars, and drums over the vocals and wouldn’t write ballads for them. They fell out, and the Temps were never the same. Norm continued with hits for Rare Earth, Edwin Starr and the Undisputed Truth. Hey, Hey. His messages remain poignant today.
Undisputed Truth Smiling Faces
Before Andre 3000. Before hypocrisy became a common term, he warned, “beware of the handshake that hides the snake.” And War? What is it good for?
War Edwin Starr
Norm found his way back to Motown, working again with the Temps. He scored yet another set of Classic hits with Rose Royce, including Car Wash. Inducted into the Songwriting Hall of Fame in 2004. Crippled by diabetes. Convicted of tax fraud, but not imprisoned because of failing health. Norman Whitfield may be gone, but he remains embedded in the soundtrack of the lives of many Americans. Just a Vacancy, Love
Don’t Live Here Anymore. Rest in Peace.
Rose Royce
VeTalle Fusilier is a writer and producer living in Washington, D.C. It’s pronounced VEE-tal few-suh-LEER.