Strong was born in 1941 in Mississippi and reared in Detroit. Singer Jackie Wilson heard Strong’s angelic voice and connected him to Motown founder Berry Gordy.
Barrett Strong, who co-wrote the R&B songs sung by The Temptations and Marvin Gaye and sang Motown’s first hit, “Money (That’s What I Want),” died on Sunday at the age of 81, the Motown Museum in Detroit announced.
The museum posted on Twitter, “It is with great regret that we share the passing of famous (Motown) singer and songwriter Barrett Strong.”
For “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone,” performed by The Temptations, Strong and Motown Records producer Norman Whitfield shared a Grammy Award for best R&B song in 1972.
He also collaborated with Whitfield on some of Motown’s biggest songs, such as The Temptations’ “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me),” Edwin Starr’s “Where I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home),” and Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.”
Strong was reared in Detroit and was born in Mississippi in 1941. Singer Jackie Wilson heard Strong’s angelic voice and introduced him to Berry Gordy, according to the Motown Museum.
Let’s Rock, Strong’s debut record, was released in 1959 on Gordy’s Tamla Records. Money, his second single that year, was written by Strong.
In addition to peaking at number two on the US R&B charts and number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song later came in at number 288 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
In the 1970s and 1980s, he released music for the labels Epic, Capitol, and others after leaving Motown in 1972.
Strong was described by Gordy in a statement released on Sunday as “not just a superb singer and pianist, but he and Whitfield developed a tremendous body of music.”
In a statement, Gordy claimed that the band’s hit songs “were groundbreaking in sound and caught the spirit of the period,” according to Billboard.
Strong passed away on Sunday in Detroit, according to a story in Billboard, but no cause of death was revealed.
Billy Bragg, a folk artist, paid tribute to Strong on Twitter on Sunday and posted a video of “Just My Imagination” by The Temptations.
The opening riff of this song “was threaded through my dreams last night, or was it the night before?” he writes. “Perfection in 3 minutes and 48 seconds. Recently, I learned of Barrett Strong’s passing. He co-wrote the song with Norman Whitfield. Damn.”