Running time130 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishMotown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is a 1983, produced by for, to commemorate Motown's 25th year (Motown was founded in January 1959). The program was taped before a live studio audience at the in on March 25, 1983, and broadcast on on May 16. Among its highlights were 's performance of ', long-awaited reunion with, a / 'battle of the bands', 's inspired speech about black music history and his memorable performance of ', a reunion, and an abbreviated reunion of &, who performed their final #1 hit, ' from 1969. The show was co-written by de Passe with Ruth Adkins Robinson who would go on to write shows with de Passe for the next 25 years, including the follow-up label tributes—through 'Motown 40,' Buz Kohan was the head writer. Contents.Performances Junior Walker performed 30 seconds of his signature hit '.' It was performed as a solo; The All-Stars, his long-time group, did not participate./ Lionel Richie performed his hit 'You Mean More To Me' in a pre-taped segment.

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Appearing with him was Lynette Butler, identified as a 'Sickle Cell Poster Child.' Richie did not appear with his former group the Commodores, who appeared without him on a separate live segment of the special, singing 'Brick House,' which was led, as on the original recording, by Commodore Walter 'Clyde' Orange. The other original Commodores, William King, Ron LaPread, Milan Williams, and Thomas McCleary were present and performed on this segment. Marvin Gaye, who had left the label a year before to sign with and had a current hit with ',' agreed at the last minute to join the roster of other Motown legends to perform. When he came on, he played the piano and gave the audience a narrative of black music history before he stepped off the piano and sang his classic hit, ', to thunderous applause. Sun solaris 10 download x86 dvd iso software. Marvin's performance on the show, following his appearances on February 23, on the and the, was one of his final national television appearances before by in April 1984.and The 'first lady of Motown' Mary Wells and frontwoman Martha Reeves were each given a 30-second spot, singing their respective hits, ' and '.'

/ Michael Jackson, who had recently released his worldwide best-selling album, was reunited with his brothers to perform a medley of their hits ', ', ', and '. Was also there, finally performing with his brothers for the first time since leaving the group in 1975, and brother joined the group for the medley as well (When Jermaine left the for a solo career, Randy had replaced him). Michael originally turned down the opportunity to perform at the show believing he had been doing too much television at the time; but at Berry Gordy's request, Michael agreed to perform under the condition he was allotted time for a solo spot, to which Gordy agreed.As the other members of the Jackson 5 left the stage, Michael transitioned dramatically into his own solo spot. Widely hailed as his breakthrough performance as a solo artist, he danced while singing to his own pre recorded vocals of ', which at the time was in the middle of a seven-week run atop the music charts and was the only non-Motown song performed on the show. Williams, Janette (June 25, 2009).

Whittier (Calif.) Daily News. Archived from on July 15, 2009.

Retrieved July 4, 2009. Retrieved 2012-03-02. (25 May 1983). 2018-05-07 at the, Gaffney Ledger, p. 13 ('Here are the week's 10 top programs: 1.

'Motown: Yesterday, Today and Forever,' NBC, a rating of 22.8 representing 18.9 million homes'). Archived from on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2018. 21 August 2014. From the original on 31 March 2016.

Retrieved 7 May 2018. Posner, Gerald (2002). Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power'.

Nona Reeves

New York: Random House. and Romanowski, Patricia (1986, 1990, 2000). New York: Cooper Squaree Publishers.External links. on.