Today April 14th is a momentous day in American music history, as it marks the 50th anniversary when the Motown Records label incorporated in 1960.

On this day 50 years ago Motown records was incorporated by its founder and mastermind Berry Gordy, who went on to oversee perhaps the greatest Black music empire of the 20th century. And the same might be said just for music in general. The label, named after it Detroit birthplace (the Motor City), went on to give the world the Temptations, the Four Tops, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Rick James, all the way down to Erykah Badu.

And Gordy has said about his career, “I’m not looking for popularity — I’ve never looked for popularity. I’m just looking for happiness and success, and I teach that to other people. Why would I want to be on the front page? To be more popular? That doesn’t thrill me. It doesn’t mean anything to me. While I’m busy trying to get my picture in the paper, I could be doing something meaningful.”