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From the Los Angeles Times
Norman Whitfield dies at 67; Motown producer and songwriter won two Grammy
Awards
The producer for the Temptations and the writer of such hits as 'I Heard It
Through the Grapevine' had long struggled with diabetes and other ailments.
By Randy Lewis
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 18, 2008

Norman Whitfield, the Grammy-winning songwriter and forward-thinking producer
who helped shape the direction of R&B and soul music at Motown Records in the
1960s and '70s, died Tuesday. He was 67.

Whitfield, the co-writer of dozens of Motown hits, including Marvin Gaye’s
“I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and producer of most of the Temptations'
recordings, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, reportedly of
complications from his long struggle with diabetes. He also had a history of
heart and kidney ailments.

"Norman Whitfield was one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers
of our time," fellow Motown veteran Smokey Robinson said in a statement
Wednesday. "He will live forever through his great music."

Whitfield wrote, usually with Barrett Strong, and produced such era-defining
hits as "Grapevine," “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” "Just My Imagination
(Running Away With Me)" and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.” The latter earned
Whitfield one of his two Grammy Awards as a songwriter and composer.

His ambitious production work helped move Motown from the catchy love songs that
typified the label's output in the early and mid-'60s into social commentary
reflecting volatile issues that were at the heart of the civil rights movement.

"Of all the brilliant writer-producers that Motown has given to the world, I
believe none was more brilliant than Norman Whitfield," the Temptations'
longtime manager, Shelly Berger, said in a statement Wednesday.

"Most producers stick to basically one type of music," Berger added. "When you
listen to Norman's body of work, from 'Beauty Is Only Skin Deep,' 'Ain't Too
Proud to Beg,' 'Ball of Confusion,' 'Cloud Nine,' 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone,'
two [hit] productions of 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine,' then top it off
with 'Just My Imagination' . . . Norman [is] in a class of his own."

Whitfield had a reputation as a tenacious songwriter and producer who extended
the life of his songs by recording them with different artists and varying
arrangements.

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" had been recorded with little success at
Motown by the Isley Brothers and the Miracles -- and Gaye -- before Whitfield
tried it with Gladys Knight & the Pips.

He recorded it with her in part out of frustration over Motown founder Berry
Gordy Jr.'s refusal to release Gaye's version as a single. Knight's record went
to No. 1 on the R&B chart and No. 2 on the pop chart, persuading Gordy to change
his mind and put out Gaye's version, for which Whitfield had pushed him to the
upper limit of his vocal range.

"While working on the songs for the 'M.P.G.' album, Norman set the songs in keys
that were too high for Marvin so he could get Marvin to strain and hit the top
of his tenor range without going into falsetto," said David Ritz, author of
"Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye." "That drove Marvin crazy and they
almost came to blows."

Gaye once told an interviewer that while recording "Grapevine": "I was reaching
for notes that made my veins bulge. . . . Had I written the song myself, I would
not have sung it at all like that, but there are many benefits in just singing
other people's material and taking directions."

That 1968 recording spent seven weeks at No. 1 and pushed Gaye's career to a new
peak. "When people heard 'Grapevine,' they said, 'This is a phenomenal artist --
he can do anything," Strong said in 2003.

That success also gave Motown renewed cachet at a time when the hits were
slowing down from the label's earlier powerhouses such as the Supremes, Four
Tops and the Miracles, before the Temptations got their second wind thanks to
Whitfield's guiding hand in the studio.

Whitfield and Strong's "Psychedelic Shack" brought the sound of experimental
rock into the halls of Motown in 1970 and became a Top 10 hit for the
Temptations.

They scored an even bigger hit with the follow-up, "Ball of Confusion (That's
What the World Is Today)," a sonic whirlwind that piled on topical lyrics and
rhymes á la Bob Dylan or John Lennon.

"To me, he gave Motown another 10 years of life by coming up with this new
attitude," said Ritz, who also collaborated on Robinson's autobiography.

"Smokey said the great thing about Norman -- and they were extremely competitive
with each other -- was that he brought out the best in everybody," Ritz said.
"It was almost like by being confrontational with the vocalist, he got them to
not only sing their [best], he also got them to dig into their souls a little
bit deeper."

Whitfield was born in 1941, according to voter registration records, in New York
City and was a teenager when his family moved to Detroit, where Gordy had
recently launched Motown Records.

As a teen, Whitfield produced recordings for local R&B acts at Thelma Records.
He often hung around Motown, and in 1962 was hired as a songwriter, joining
Gordy's growing stable of writers that included Harvey Fuqua and the team of
Brian Holland-Lamont Dozier-Eddie Holland.

Gordy teamed Whitfield up with Strong, whose 1960 recording of his own song,
"Money," gave Motown one of its first hits. After some early successes with
their songs, Gordy recognized Whitfield's talent at production and put him in
charge of the Temptations, who first reached No. 1 on the pop chart with "My
Girl," written and produced by Robinson.

But starting with "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" in 1966, Whitfield wrote and produced
more than two dozen hits for the group over the next eight years.

"We grew up together," original Temptations singer Otis Williams said Wednesday.
"He was my lifelong friend [and] one of the best producers Motown ever had."

Whitfield also oversaw recordings by Edwin Starr, who hit No. 1 with Whitfield's
thunderously produced single “War,” and the Undisputed Truth.

In the mid-1970s, Whitfield left Motown and started his own Whitfield Records,
and went to No. 1 again with Rose Royce's disco-era hit “Car Wash.” The
musical score for that 1976 film snagged Whitfield his second Grammy.

Said author Ritz: "I was working with Berry Gordy once and he told me 'Man, if
the Motown Museum should have a whole wing dedicated to one person, it would be
Norman Whitfield.' "

In 2005, Whitfield pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was fined $25,000 for
failing to report more than $4 million in income. He was sentenced to home
detention rather than prison because of his failing health.

Information on Whitfield's survivors or funeral services was not immediately
available.

randy.lewis@...








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