Gordy family was also a professional in bowling. His daughter Iris was married to singer Johnny Bristol. The eldest Gordy daughter, Esther (April 25, 1920 – August 24, 2011), born in Georgia, established herself early in business as a political campaigner for her husband, Detroit politician George Edwards. In the late 1950s, she formed a loan company named after her parents; in 1959, she helped her brother Berry with a $800 loan to start Tamla Records. She borrowed the proceeds from the college tuition fund their father had established for Berry. Edwards served as mentor, adviser, and vice president of Motown's main
That Stubborn Kinda Fellow only a few R&B songs, Gaye had no desire to have an R&B career, figuring he wouldn't get much exposure from a crossover audience singing R&B. Motown CEO Berry Gordy also had difficulty on how to present the music to the buying public. Though artists like The Miracles and Mary Wells had R&B success, they hardly were noticed by pop audiences. And while Motown's first signing act, Marv Johnson, was one of the label's earliest hitmakers, most of his music was released to United Artists, while Motown Recordings and its imprints Tamla, Motown and Gordy, had still not produced much