Barrett Strong, whose ‘Money’ helped launch Motown, dies at 81

CULTURE / Music

Barrett Strong, whose ‘Money’ helped launch Motown, dies at 81

As a singer he was a one-hit wonder. But teaming with Norman Whitfield, he wrote a string of hits for others, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.”

Acclaimed songwriter Barrett Strong also teamed with Norman Whitfield to write 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and 'Ball of Confusion.” | FABRIZIO COSTANTINI / THE NEW YORK TIMES

By Neil Genzlinger
The New York Times

Jan 31, 2023

Barrett Strong, whose 1959 hit, “Money (That’s What I Want),” gave a fledgling music entrepreneur named Berry Gordy Jr. the jump-start his business — soon to be known as Motown Records — needed, and who later teamed with Norman Whitfield to write hits for others, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Ball of Confusion,” has died. He was 81.

The Motown Museum announced his death on social media Sunday. It gave no further details.

Strong, a pianist, was being managed by Gordy when, in a recording studio in Detroit, he began fiddling with a riff that was an imitation of one of his favorite artists.