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Cornelius Grant | |
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| Birth name | Cornelius Grant |
| Born | April 27, 1943 Fairfield, Texas, United States |
| Genres | R&B, soul |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist, Songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Associated acts | The Temptations |
Cornelius Grant (born April 27, 1943) is an American guitarist, composer, and band leader. He served as the musical director, guitar player, and live show arranger for Motown vocal group The Temptations from 1964 until 1982.
Grant was born in Fairfield, Texas, United States. Raised by his grandmother, whom he adored, he taught himself how to play guitar at the age of nine.
When he was 13, his family moved to Detroit. [1] At 15, he was playing in clubs, bars, talent shows, and other functions. Within three years he was playing with Mary Wells, then Marvin Gaye before The Temptations employed him.
Grant used a Gibson Birdland and a Fender Telecaster. He created the opening guitar riff on "I Know I'm Losing You". He wrote the hit song with Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield. He also wrote "You're My Everything" with Roger Penzabene and Norman Whitfield. Penzabene, a close friend of Grant's, wrote "I Wish It Would Rain" and "I Could Never Love Another".
Grant also wrote "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me" and "Ain't No Sun (Since You Been Gone)" (performed by Gladys Knight & the Pips); "You Got to Earn It", and "I Gotta Find A Way (To Get You Back)" (performed by the Temptations); and "My Weakness Is You" and "I Want My Baby Back" (performed by Edwin Starr); Grant also co-wrote "I'm More Than Happy (I'm Satisfied)" for Stevie Wonder, and "Love and Affection" for Marvin Gaye. [2]
With The Temptations he had a chance to play to fans in the Pacific, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. They were guests at the White House courtesy of President Richard Nixon. Grant also met Martin Luther King Jr., Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Jesse Jackson, Elton John, and The Beatles, and appeared on many television shows.
Grant played on select Motown studio sessions' with the Funk Brothers from 1964 to 1970, including Gladys Knight & the Pips "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". As a rule, Grant played on all the sessions that featured songs he wrote or co-wrote, except one, "You Got to Earn It", which Smokey Robinson cut while Grant was on the road with the Temptations. [3]
In 1983, Grant began writing for The Hollywood Reporter and contributed extensively to BRE Magazine as a columnist. A current project, "Flashbacks and Newtraks” is a radio show featuring interviews, entertainment news, oldies music, and many points of view by him and his co-host Sylkie Green.
When Grant gives lectures, he sometimes shares the podium with Motown insiders such as Don Foster (former Supremes and Temptations manager) and TV writer/Motown historian, Ruth Adkins Robinson. [4]
Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B/soul/funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s.
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single to date.
Norman Jesse Whitfield was an American songwriter and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during the 1960s. He has been credited as one of the creators of the Motown Sound and of the late-1960s subgenre of psychedelic soul.
"Ain't Too Proud to Beg" is a 1966 song and hit single by The Temptations for Motown Records' Gordy label, produced by Norman Whitfield and written by Whitfield and Edward Holland Jr. The song peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Pop Chart, and was a number-one hit on the Billboard R&B charts for eight non-consecutive weeks. The song's success, in the wake of the relative underperformance of the previous Temptations single, "Get Ready", resulted in Norman Whitfield replacing Smokey Robinson, producer of "Get Ready", as The Temptations' main producer. In 2004 it finished #94 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs poll thanks to its inclusion in The Big Chill soundtrack.
Barrett Strong is an American singer and songwriter. Strong was the first artist to record a hit for Motown, although he is best known for his work as a songwriter, particularly in association with producer Norman Whitfield. Among his most famous work at Motown, Strong wrote the lyrics for many of the songs recorded by the Temptations.
"I Wish It Would Rain" is a 1967 song recorded by the Temptations for the Motown label and produced by Norman Whitfield.
Rodger Penzabene was an American songwriter for the Motown label. Among his most notable compositions as a lyricist are "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me" by Gladys Knight & the Pips; "The End of Our Road" by Gladys Knight & the Pips and Marvin Gaye; and a trilogy of hits for The Temptations: "You're My Everything", "I Wish It Would Rain", and "I Could Never Love Another ".
The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul is the fifth studio album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1967. Featuring four hit singles, With a Lot o' Soul is the most successful Temptations album from their "classic 5" era, during which David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams constituted the Temptations' lineup.
Live at the Copa is a 1968 live album recorded by The Temptations at the Copacabana supper club in New York City. Released in 1968 by Gordy (Motown) Records, Live at the Copa features new lead singer Dennis Edwards in place of David Ruffin. Edwards' first studio album with the Temptations would be the group's next album, 1969's Cloud Nine.
Live at London's Talk of The Town is a 1970 live album recorded by The Temptations at the Talk of the Town nightclub in London, England. It was the final live album released by the group for over thirty years, until The Temptations in Japan, recorded in 1973, was released in 2004. The album reached No. 21 on the Billboard 200 Pop Album Chart, and No. 5 on its R&B album chart.
In the Groove is the eighth studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released on August 26, 1968 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. It was the first solo studio album Gaye released in two years, in which during that interim, the singer had emerged as a successful duet partner with female R&B singers such as Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. In the Groove was reissued and retitled as I Heard It Through the Grapevine after the unexpected success of Gaye's recording of the same name, which had been released as a single from the original album.
Motown Remixed is a 2005 compilation album containing remixed versions of Motown hits, released on May 24, 2005 by Motown/Universal Records.
Super Hits is a compilation album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released in 1970 by Motown's subsidiary Tamla Records and compiles Gaye's pop-R&B singles recorded from 1962 to 1969.
Special Occasion is an album by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles released in 1968. It contains three Top 40 hits: "If You Can Want", "Yester Love", and "Special Occasion". Also included are versions of the Motown hits "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Everybody Needs Love" and The Beatles' "Yesterday". The album's biggest hit was the uptempo "If You Can Want", which just missed the Billboard Pop Top 10, and was performed by the group on their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1968. The Miracles were actually the first group to record "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", before the later hit versions by Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips were done, although the master used on this album is a re-recorded version prepared following the release of the Pips' version. This album also includes the popular Miracles regional hit "B" sides, “Much Better Off”, and “Give Her Up”. “Give Her Up” first appeared on Martha & The Vandellas‘ 1963 album Come And Get These Memories as “Give Him Up”.
"The End of Our Road" is a single written by Roger Penzabene, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1967. Originally recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips and issued as a single in 1968, the Pips' version of the song, became another top forty hit for the family group as it peaked at number fifteen on the pop singles chart and number five on the R&B singles chart.
Motown Chartbusters is a series of compilation albums first released by EMI under licence on the Tamla Motown label in Britain. In total, 12 editions were released in the UK between 1967 and 1982. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally called British Motown Chartbusters; after this the title Motown Chartbusters was used.
Paul Riser is an American trombonist and Motown musical arranger who was responsible for co-writing and arranging dozens of top ten hit records. His legacy as one of the "Funk Brothers" is similar to that of most of the other "Brothers", as his career has been overlooked and overshadowed by the stars of Motown that became household names. Some of the Funk Brothers he worked with include: Earl Van Dyke, Johnny Griffith, Robert White, Eddie Willis, Joe Messina, Dennis Coffey, Wah Wah Watson, James Jamerson, Bob Babbitt, Eddie Watkins, Richard "Pistol" Allen, Uriel Jones, Andrew Smith, Jack Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Benny Benjamin, Cornelius Grant, Joe Hunter, Richard "Popcorn" Wylie, Marcus Belgrave, Teddy Buckner and Stevie Wonder.
Face to Face With the Truth is the second album by the Motown group The Undisputed Truth, released in 1972.
"Don't You Miss Me a Little Bit Baby" is a 1967 soul song originally recorded by Motown singer Jimmy Ruffin and released on the company's Soul subsidiary label.
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