When the stress grew an excessive amount of, Motown producer Norman Whitfield disappeared off the face of the earth. Quitting the studio in a single day with out clarification, he drove from Los Angeles by way of the desert to Las Vegas. “We’d set off in his Jensen [convertible sports car] at 3am,” remembers The Undisputed Reality’s lead singer Joe “Pep” Harris, one in every of
the musicians who’d accompany Whitfield on such journeys. “We’d get up in daylight, we’re within the rattling automobile, individuals strolling up and down the rattling road! He’d inform the studio, ‘I’m in Vegas.’ ‘Say what?’ Then he’d inform them: ‘Preserve working. The report ain’t near being completed.’”
“Norman had a credit score line at Caesars Palace of $5 million,” says Duane Moody, Whitfield’s former supervisor and PR. “He’d drive to Vegas to feed his power and aggressive spirit. Norman didn’t smoke, drink or get excessive, however he beloved playing. Norman beloved capturing cube and taking part in craps for 2 to 3 days straight, placing $20–30,000 on a quantity. He used the power he obtained from that to jot down one other Temptations track.”
A teetotal gambler with a style for quick exits, Norman Whitfield had many eye-catching qualities. As a songwriter and producer, he was able to related extremes. Amongst his masterpieces for Motown, Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It By The Grapevine” and The Temptations’ “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” had been filled with simmering, cinematic stress, recorded by singers who Whitfield pushed to their limits. His brace of psychedelic soul hits had been crucial, not only for their wild sonic experimentation however the best way that they radically up to date the Sound of Younger America for altering occasions.
“Norman was essentially the most artistic producer Motown ever had,” says Shelly Berger, The Temptations’ supervisor since 1965. “Berry Gordy feels the identical. Norman was grittier and extra different than Holland-Dozier-Holland or Smokey Robinson.”
“I noticed Michael Jackson sitting with Norman as soon as, as a result of he wished data,” says Joe Harris. “Michael mentioned, ‘I can inform when it’s a Whitfield track, as a result of all that different stuff sounds prefer it’s standing nonetheless.’”
Whitfield’s time at Motown was characterised by a relentless battle for independence and management; later, when he based Whitfield Data in 1975, his riotous, eccentric tendences got free rein. He carried himself within the studio as if he was the star, with an angle and vogue sense as outsized as his lavish productions.
“He all the time had an enormous ’fro comb in his hair,” laughs Isy Martin, guitarist with The Undisputed Reality. “He had this massive, shit-eating grin on his face that simply let : ‘I’m Norman.’” On the similar time, Whitfield stored himself to himself, preferring to maintain his actual emotions hidden from view. “He appeared like he held issues inside,” says Martin. “Issues that he didn’t wish to discuss to anybody about.”
