Barrett Strong Dies: Motown Artist & Songwriter Was 81
deadline.comBarrett Strong, artist and songwriter credited with having given Motown its first hit with “Money (That’s What I Want),” has died.
He was 81. Motown founder Berry Gordy confirmed Strong’s death in a statement where he called his songs “revolutionary.” “I am saddened to hear of the passing of Barrett Strong, one of my earliest artists, and the man who sang my first big hit,” Gordy said in a statement shared by Billboard. “Barrett was not only a great singer and piano player, but he, along with his writing partner Norman Whitefield, created an incredible body of work, primarily with the Temptations.
Their hit songs were revolutionary in sound and captured the spirit of the times like ‘Cloud Nine’ and the still relevant, ‘Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today).'” Barrett was born on February 5, 1941 in West Point, Mississippi.
Strong’s “Money” was a hit that it was later covered by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Richard Wylie and His Band, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Searchers, Flying Lizards, The Sonics and Buddy Guy.
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