Why I Love Norman Whitfield

“Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong/ Are here to make right everything that’s wrong” – Billy Bragg “Levi Stubbs’ Tears”

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Norman Whitfield, ace Motown songwriter, producer and pop maverick has died at the age of 67 from complications related to his diabetes.

Whitfield was born in Harlem, New York in 1940. He travelled to Detroit in his late teens in the hope of securing a job at Motown. While Berry Gordy made him sweat, he got by as a pool shark, until Gordy finally gave in and hired Whitfield as an A&R man and quality controller. Eventually, Whitfield teamed up with songwriter Barrett Strong and together they wrote an incredible string of hits. He also worked with Marvin Gaye, Lamont Dozier, Gladys Knight, Rare Earth, Edwyn Starr, Frank Wilson and Rose Royce among many others. He co-wrote “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”, “Needle In A Haystack”, “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” and “He Was Really Sayin’ Somethin’” and the list goes on. “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” is one of the greatest singles there is. Even his “flops” were brilliant. The Velvelettes’ “Lonely Lonely Girl Am I”, for example, is incredible too.

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Track down the recent “Complete Motown Singles” boxsets – they add up to what is a truly astonishing body of work and Norman Whitfield’s thumbprint is all over them. He guided The Temptations in their progression from pure pop into darker, more psychedelic territory. In the 1970s he set up Whitfield Records, whose main attraction was Rose Royce. Cue: “Car Wash”, “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”, “Is It Love You’re After” and “Wishin’ On A Star”. It wouldn’t be right for Analogue to allow Whitfield’s passing to go unmentioned, so let’s doff our caps to one of the great architects of pop music as we know it.

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If you’ve ever spun around your living room like a giddy child to the strains of a northern soul compilation, or if you’ve ever found yourself grinning like an idiot at the sheer joy of classic Motown, then you’ll know that this is a sad day for pop music.