Berry Gordy awarded Kennedy Center Honor as Stevie Wonder performs, Biden salutes Motown

WASHINGTON — Before he created a Detroit music juggernaut, Berry Gordy Jr. was a little-known songwriter with an $800 loan and a homemade studio.

Sixty-two years later, alongside a black-tie audience that included family members, high-wattage celebrities and the president of the United States, the Motown Records founder was celebrated with one of the world’s most-prestigious arts honors.

Gordy was among this year's class of five Kennedy Center Honors recipients, looking on Sunday from the famed box seats of the Kennedy Center Opera House hall as Smokey Robinson commemorated him with a new song and Stevie Wonder closed the night with several time-tested hits.

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts were among the D.C. heavyweights on hand at the Sunday evening gala. With an audience of 2,200, all in required face masks, it was the first Kennedy Centers Honors show staged for a full house since 2019.

The show was taped for its traditional Christmas week broadcast and will air at 9 p.m. Dec. 22 on CBS.

Just days after another life milestone for Gordy — he turned 92 late last month — the Detroit native got to enjoy one of the most illustrious accolades of his career. He was energetic and in bright spirits throughout the Kennedy Center weekend, which included a post-gala dinner where he, Robinson and Wonder were a magnet for dignitaries and other guests.

In the heart of the holiday season in the nation’s capital, it was a grand and bustling couple of days for Gordy and his fellow 2021 honorees, including singer-actress Bette Midler, “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels, opera star Justino Díaz and singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, who spent formative artistic years of her own in Detroit during the 1960s.

The group spent Sunday afternoon at a White House reception with Biden, where the president talked up his personal affection for Gordy’s musical legacy.

“Detroit, Motown — my God,” Biden said during the visit. “I tell you what, I don’t know how I’d have grown up without Motown. Talk about the soul of America.”

Rattling off a litany of Gordy-affiliated artists — Jackie Wilson, the Temptations, the Supremes, the Jackson 5 — the president drew chuckles when he told the gathered crowd: “If I had my cellphone, I’d play them all for you.”

Gordy told the Free Press afterward he was delighted by Biden's "complimentary" remarks about his work and his hometown.

Gordy was the focus of the closing segment in Sunday evening's four-hour gala, with Robinson serving as emcee and performing a sweet new composition, "Did You Know," addressed to Gordy in a celebration of their long bond. He debuted the song accompanied by piano in front of a rendering of the Hitsville, U.S.A., house.

“My friend, my wonderful friend, I love you so,” Robinson sang.

Wonder’s show finale took a couple of tries: Battling issues with his onstage monitor, he quickly halted his first go, prompting a scramble for production staff and confused chatter in the audience.

Eventually all was set and Wonder, at a piano and keyboard, rattled through “My Cheri Amour,” “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Superstition” — the last one getting the tuxedoed-and-gowned crowd off its seats and clapping along, Biden among them.

The show wrapped with Wonder leading a rendition of his “Higher Ground” joined by singers Andra Day, Brittany Howard, Billy Porter and Ellie Goulding.

In a nod to Gordy’s filmmaking career — namely his Diana Ross vehicle “Lady Sings the Blues” — Day had stepped out for a smoky take on Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child,” reprising her role from recent film “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”

And cast members from the Temptations’ Broadway musical “Ain’t Too Proud” — playing the Supremes and Tempts — delivered a choreographed sequence for “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me.”

Gordy is now the Kennedy Center’s latest Motown honoree, following Wonder (1999), Robinson (2006), Diana Ross (2007) and Lionel Richie (2017). Detroit singer Aretha Franklin was honored in 1994.

On the red carpet ahead of the gala, Robinson said he lobbied for his close friend's inclusion since receiving his own Kennedy Center Honor, saying it was "overdue."

"It's about time, and I'm very happy for him," Robinson said.

Gordy's tribute was part of a glitzy Sunday night where stars rubbed shoulders with politicos, and honorees got treated to surprise tributes and performances from friends and artists linked to them.

For Mitchell, that meant Norah Jones, Goulding, Howard and Herbie Hancock, along with Brandi Carlisle delivering a gorgeous “River.”

Diaz was feted with opera performances that included a warm appearance by his two adult daughters, while Midler got appearances from Scarlett Johansson, Goldie Hawn, Barbara Hershey and a taped salute from Adele, with stage star Porter wowing on a medley of Midler hits.

Michaels drew a host of “SNL” big guns, including Steve Martin, Jimmy Fallon and Pete Davidson, along with several others — Kevin Nealon, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Colin Jost and Michael Che.

"SNL" staple Paul Simon, his voice notably thinner since his 2018 farewell tour, nevertheless served up a sweet and sincere rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America.”

Sunday's razzle-dazzle was diverse and wide-reaching, but for the Michigan contingent on hand, this was very much a Motown night.

At the evening’s lavish post-gala dinner adjacent to the opera hall, music aficionado Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, was feeling the moment.

“Detroit was in the house in full force tonight,” she said. “Berry Gordy deserves every accolade for his leadership and commitment.”

Stabenow said she had spoken with Gordy that day about the ongoing $55 million expansion campaign at Detroit’s Motown Museum, site of the label’s original office and studio. The senator said Gordy was emphatic that “we have to get that done,” and she told him she was doing all she could to help.

More: As Temptations announce 60th anniversary album, Otis Williams is energized, nostalgic

More: Hitsville transformed: First look at Motown Museum’s new plaza as expansion fund hits $32M

The expansion fund stands at $37 million, including a $6 million gift from Gordy in 2019.

Fans around the globe have clearly shown the enduring love for Motown music, but the Kennedy Center Honors' embrace of Gordy was a kind of formal affirmation of his life's work. As former Motown executive and longtime Gordy friend Suzanne de Passe said Sunday, it's an award "in a class by itself because it's about an impact on the whole culture and not one narrow corridor of accomplishment."

With Motown, the onetime boxer and auto-line worker struck gold in his musical ventures, a Detroit-worthy combo of soulful creativity and entrepreneurial grit. At his Hitsville complex on West Grand Boulevard, Gordy and his team nurtured young Black talent into global stars, turning Wonder, Robinson, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, the Jacksons, the Four Tops and others into headline names.

After building his empire, Gordy’s much-decorated résumé went on to include Grammy Awards, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and a National Medal of Arts.

But it was the Kennedy Center distinction that truly floored him, Gordy told the Detroit Free Press when the news came in July.

Gordy was formally bestowed his Kennedy Center medal during a Library of Congress dinner on Saturday in front of an audience that included many previous honorees and officials such as Pelosi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

In an affectionate speech that turned tearful, de Passe lauded her mentor’s multifaceted career — label founder, filmmaker, Broadway producer, song publishing tycoon.

“He bets on himself, and in so doing, he brings life-changing opportunities to hundreds if not thousands of people,” de Passe said.

De Passe, who helped develop the Jackson 5, said Gordy and a young Michael Jackson shared a motivation, seeing in one another “a way to achieve greatness.”

“He makes miracles in people’s lives, and not just the Smokey Robinson kind,” she said.

Gordy followed with his own remarks, saying the honor was a touching moment: "We’re talking about the Kennedy Center Honors,” after all.

A voice from the crowd shouted back: “You’re Berry Gordy!”

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Berry Gordy awarded Kennedy Center Honor as Biden salutes Motown