Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929) is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer, and television producer best known as Berry Gordy Jr. He is best known for founding the Motown record label and its subsidiaries, which for decades was the highest-earning African-American enterprise.
Gordy was elected into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and President Barack Obama gave him the National Medal of Arts in 2016, as well as the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021. He was honored with the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in 2022.
Early Years
Berry Gordy III, also known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 28, 1929. He was the seventh child out of eight. Gordy and former US President Jimmy Carter are related through their great-grandfather, Georgian plantation owner James Gordy. Gordy’s granddad was born on the plantation of James Gordy and an enslaved lady.
Gordy dropped out of high school in the 11th grade to pursue a professional boxing career. That career was short-lived, as he was shortly inducted into the Army during the Korean War. Gordy founded a record store named 3-D Record Mart after returning from the war. The store is specialized in selling jazz recordings to a predominantly African-American clientele. Gordy also created songs in his spare time, one of which, “Reet Petite,” became a hit for vocalist Jackie Wilson. With the proceeds from “Reet Petite,” Gordy began composing and producing full-time.
What is Berry Gordy’s Net Worth and Salary?
| Net Worth: | $400 Million |
| Date of Birth: |
Nov 28, 1929 (93 years old)
|
| Place of Birth: | Detroit |
| Gender: | Male |
Berry Gordy is a $400 million dollar net-worth American record executive and producer. Berry Gordy amassed money and fame as the founder and president of Motown Records, as well as being the driving force behind the careers of megastars such as Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and The Jackson 5.
Other Projects
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Gordy spent time and effort on a variety of other ventures in addition to writing great songs and cultivating new performers. “To Be Loved,” his autobiography, was released in 1994. In 2011, he began work on a Broadway musical based on Motown.
From April 2013 until January 2015, “Motown: The Musical” played at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. In January 2016, a West End production of the show began in the United Kingdom.
Personal Life
Gordy has been married and divorced three times, and he has eight children in total. After returning from the Korean War, he married his first wife, Thelma Louise Coleman, in Toledo, Ohio, in 1953. Six years later, in 1959, they divorced. Gordy and Coleman have three children together.
From 1960 until 1964, Gordy was married to his second wife, Raynoma Mayberry Liles. They have one son together. In 1990, he married his third wife, Grace Eaton, and they divorced in 1993. Gordy is also the father of a daughter by Jeana Jackson, a son by Margaret Norton (his mistress at the time), a daughter by singer Diana Ross, and a son by Nancy Leiviska.
Real Estate Assets
Gordy sold his Malibu property to entertainment executive Michael Ovitz for $6 million in 1997. He’d had the house since 1975. In 2014, Gordy sold an apartment in Century City, California for $2 million. Gordy’s Bel-Air home is the crown jewel of his real estate empire.
In 1976, he purchased his first piece in Bel-Air. He grew over time, and now he owns three contiguous parcels that form one 4-acre compound. The main house on the property is 10,000 square feet and has 13 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. He also owns a 5,000-square-foot mansion on a nearby lot. The Bel Air properties are estimated between $50 and $70 million.