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Museum Hours

  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: Closed
  • Wednesday: 10am-6pm
  • Thursday: 10am-6pm
  • Friday: 10am-6pm
  • Saturday: 10am-6pm
  • Sunday: 10am-6pm

We are closed on New Years Day, Memorial Day, Easter Sunday, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve

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Motown Museum is the beating heart of the extraordinary Motown legacy—a destination that brings together people and ideas from different generations, and celebrates the past while simultaneously building a bridge to the future.

About Motown Museum

To ensure our vast collection maintains public visibility, and to keep things fresh for our guests, Motown Museum changes its main gallery exhibit 1-2 times per year. Here is what’s currently showing at our museum.

Current Exhibit

Motown Museum transports you into an era of musical magic. From the moment you step on the plaza, you’ll be immersed in the Motown sound and will experience a profound sense of history.

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Hitsville NEXT Programs

Our uniquely curated community programs emphasize education, entrepreneurship and equity—with experiences, mentoring and exposure that nurtures and elevates tomorrow’s history makers. Museum programs cultivate creativity and entrepreneurship in budding talent, allowing great art, big ideas and innovation to flourish.

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Lyric Project


Ages 14-18 | June 18 – 28

Lyric Project is a two-week workshop that helps students learn about songwriting, music production, and communicating powerful and authentic emotions through music...

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Ignite Summer Camp
application Open

Ignite Summer Camp


9 - 12 Grade | July 9 - 19

Ignite is a two-week program designed for high school-aged singers who want to take their musical talents to the next level...

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application Open

Spark Summer Camp


6 – 8 Grade | August 6 - 16

For middle-school students passionate about music, we offer Spark, a day camp that helps students write and perform music together...

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Events

From memorable galas and concert performances, to community celebrations and educational programs, we host a range of special events throughout the year.

All Events

AMPLIFY: The Sound of Detroit Grand Finale


March 16, 2024

Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts

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Private Events

Interested in hosting your own event at Motown?

Facility Rental

Motown Legacy

As an irresistible force of social and cultural change, the legendary Motown portfolio made its mark not just on the music industry, but society at large, with a signature Motown Sound that has become one of the most significant musical accomplishments and stunning success stories of the 20th century.

Discover The Legacy

Like many other African Americans in the early 20th century, Berry Gordy, Sr. and his wife, Bertha Fuller Gordy, came North from Georgia to find a better life for themselves and their family.

Gordy Family

Motown is an extended family of some of the most iconic and influential artists, musicians and songwriters of our time. Brought together by destiny through their love for making music, they found themselves making history.

Motown Artists

The culmination of years of planning, hard work and generous contributions from dedicated donors, the highly anticipated, $50 million Motown Museum expansion project will grow the museum campus to a 50,000-square-foot world-class entertainment and education tourist destination.

Expansion

Support Motown Museum

When you contribute to the Motown Museum, you become part of a rich musical and cultural legacy. We are a 501(c)(3) not for profit, tax-exempt organization in Detroit.

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Museum Hours

  • Monday: Closed
  • Tuesday: Closed
  • Wednesday: 10am-6pm
  • Thursday: 10am-6pm
  • Friday: 10am-6pm
  • Saturday: 10am-6pm
  • Sunday: 10am-6pm
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Museum memberships are an investment in the preservation and conservation of our historic legacy. Become A Member

Bobby Taylor And The Vancouvers

Signed in 1965

Motown Museum Star

Bobby Taylor

Motown Museum Star

Tommy Chong

Motown Museum Star

Wes Henderson

Motown Museum Star

Eddie Patterson

Motown Museum Star

Robbie King

Motown Museum Star

Ted Lewis aka Duris Maxwell

International doo-wop band Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers used their diverse backgrounds to create smooth, upbeat music. While the members all hail from Canada, the group formed in San Francisco, California under the name ‘Little Daddy and the Bachelors’ and later ‘Calgary Shades’ before deciding on Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers. The band consisted of Bobby Taylor on vocals, Tommy Chong and Eddie Patterson on guitar, Wes Henderson on bass, Robbie King on organ, and Ted Lewis (also known as Duris Maxwell) on drums. In 1965, The Supremes’ Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard discovered the group performing a set of Motown covers and alerted Berry Gordy. He arranged for an audition and signed them to Motown.

Bobby Taylor and the Vancouver’s first release came in 1968 with “Does Your Mama Know About Me,” a song about interracial dating, which charted at #5 in US R&B charts and #44 on Canadian pop charts. Their breakout hit was followed by “I Am Your Man,” which broke the top 100 of US pop charts and peaked at #40 in US R&B.  “Malinda” was also released that year and reached #48 in the US pop charts and #16 on US R&B. The group took off and began to tour their new album Bobby Taylor And The Vancouvers (1968) across the country, making a stop at the Regal Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. For their opening act, they recruited a young group called The Jackson 5. Impressed by the group’s immense talent, Bobby Taylor personally arranged for them to audition for producer Suzanne de Passe who encouraged Berry Gordy to sign them.

Despite Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers growing in popularity, by the end of the 1960s the group would break up to pursue other projects. While Bobby Taylor stayed on at Motown as a soloist and producer for the Jackson 5, the other members left Motown in pursuit of other opportunities. Tommy Chong later gained fame as half of the iconic comedic duo Cheech and Chong. During Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers’ short time at Motown, they made music that enticed crowds and embodied the doo-wop sound they loved so much.

SpotifyDiscogs

Malinda (Live At Fox Theatre, Detroit, MI/1969)[AUDIO]

Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers “Does Your Mama Know About Me” My Extended Version!

Motown Note

Despite rumors, the famous guitarist Jimi Hendrix was not a part of the group. According to Tommy Chong, the group knew Jimi Hendrix and played with him on occasion, but he was never an official member.


Bibliography

Gordy, B., 1994. To Be Loved. New York: Warner Brothers, Inc, p.279.

Hank, F., 1968. Record Sales Head For Peak; Tape 20% Of Tap. Billboard,.

AllMusic. 2022. Bobby Taylor Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More | AllMusic. [online] Available at: <https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bobby-taylor-mn0000374639?1637699558760> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Hawthorn, T., 2017. Vancouver-based singer Bobby Taylor brought the Jackson 5 to Motown. [online] The Globe and Mail. Available at: <https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/vancouver-based-singer-bobby-taylor-brought-the-jackson-5-to-motown/article36033820/> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Kayce, A., 2007. HARP Magazine. [online] Web.archive.org. Available at: <https://web.archive.org/web/20090425165739/http:/www.harpmagazine.com/articles/detail.cfm?article_id=6162> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Knopper, S., 2017. Bobby Taylor, Motown Singer Who Discovered Jackson 5, Dead at 83. [online] Rolling Stone. Available at: <https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bobby-taylor-motown-singer-who-discovered-jackson-5-dead-at-83-202100/> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

BobTaylor, T., 2017. Tommy Chong Remembers Former Bandmate and Motown Singer Bobby Taylor. [online] CelebStoner.com. Available at: <https://www.celebstoner.com/blogs/tommy-chong/2017/07/24/tommy-chong-remembers-bobby-taylor/> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Soulwalking.co.uk. n.d. Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers Page. [online] Available at: <http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Bobby%20Taylor%20&%20Vancouvers.html> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

McCollum, B., 2018. Behind the scenes: When Motown met Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. [online] Freep.com. Available at: <https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/03/31/michael-jackson-jackson-5-motown-audition-detroit-behind-scenes/475222002/> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Lau, J., 2014. Inside Story- Bobby Taylor. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtRWeoOStJc> [Accessed 19 July 2022].


 

The Supremes

The Supremes

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The Jackson 5

The Jackson 5

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Chris Clark

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Gladys Knight And The Pips

Gladys Knight And The Pips

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Rare Earth

Rare Earth

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