HITSVILLE
American. Hitsville was the Country Music
division of Motown, and was formed by producer Mike Curb at the request of Berry
Gordy as part of a drive by Motown to expand its musical scope. In the
States it started out in October 1974 as 'Melodyland', with a similar
font and label design as the above. 'Billboard' of the 8th of February
1975 was able to report that it was 'doing well', but its fortunes took an
upturn when, in May 1976, Ray Ruff was put in overall control and the change of
name to Hitsville took place. In Billboard of the 13th of November 1977 Ruff was able to claim that since he
had been in charge five of Hitsville's seven singles had entered the Country Charts. Ruff
himself produced records for the company, as did Mike Curb
Productions and Jimmy Bowen; the three also made records for Motown's affiliated label Prodigal (q.v.). Melodyland
/ Hitsville's biggest seller was T. G. Sheppard: 'BB' of the 5th
of March 1977 noted that he had had seven Country Top 10 hits for the label(s). For some
reason, however, Motown seems to have decided to shut Hitsville down - 'Without
warning' according to Sheppard in 'BB' of the 18th of May 1985 -
and its final single in the States, Wendel Adkins's 'Texas Moon' came out towards the
end of March 1977. The 'b' side of that single, 'Laid Back Country Picker', was promoted a month later ('BB', 30th April) and
was a minor Country hit in May.
In Britain,
somewhat oddly, Hitsville made its first appearance while Motown's interest in the label was near
to expiring. Unsurprisingly, given the circumstances, it came and went
in short order, putting out just two singles and three albums over here, in the
course of three months. Its advent was commented on by 'Music Week' of the
22nd of January 1977, which referred to it as Motown's 'Country & Western' label,
and also by 'BB' of the 29th of January 1977. Both articles said that it was
to debut in late March with LPs by T. G. Sheppard and Pat Boone, along with a Various
Artists sampler, but the 'BB' one added that Hitsville's appearance here reflected Motown's 'increased
commitment to Country music', which in hindsight is ironical. Both of Hitsville's singles are
rare, and demo copies are commoner than issues - in
fact 'Texas Moon' b/w 'Laid Back Country Picker' by Wendel Adkins (HV-102; 5/77) seems
not to have got past the 'demo' stage. Manufacture and
distribution were by EMI, as were those of Motown's own records. In America several
Hitsville artists resurfaced on another Mike Curb's 'MC' (q.v.) label, which again had links
with Motown.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.