Marc Gordon

Marc Gordon got his start in the music business around 1960 in Los Angeles managing an R&B singer from Cincinnati, Ohio - Hal Davis, and having Davis record Gordon's songs. States Gordon, "through this process I learned about producing and selling masters. Then, we started collaborating with other artists and musicians just starting out such as Glen Campbell and Gary Paxton. [Note, you can hear Gordon and Davis singing background on the #1 hits "Alley Oop" by the Hollywood Argyles and "Monster Mash" by Bobby Boris Pickett]. One thing led to another and all of a sudden we became partners as record producers."

Continues Gordon, "Hal and I produced an artist that we took to one of the first R&B conventions. There, we met Barry Gordy, who did not yet have a presence in Los Angeles. Barry gave us both a job to produce product on the West Coast. The first record we made for Motown was a hit - Brenda Holloway "Every Little Bit Hurts" (1964 Tamla, BB #13). For three years, 1962-1965, I helped stabilize the West Coast Motown office, eventually becoming President, West Coast. While at Motown, I was responsible for producing the Ikettes, and Tina Turner and I co-managed all of the acts on Motown that were on the West Coast." While at Motown, Gordon formed a friendship with young songwriter Jimmy Webb - who was a staff songwriter with Motown for a short time - that would soon change history for them both.

By 1966, Gordon had left Motown. (Hal Davis stayed with Motown and became a hit producer, producing many of the early Jackson 5 chart toppers and Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way.") According to Gordon, "I started a management company and began working with a new jazz-pop group called the Versatiles. The Versatiles first record deal was with Bob Keane's (of Del-Fi fame) Bronco label, where they recorded a couple of unsuccessful sides, with Barry White (of 1970s disco fame) as music director. Next, Johnny Rivers accountant hired me to open up and manage Johnny River's new Soul City label which was subsidized by the Liberty label. The Versatiles were the first igning, but they soon changed their name to - the Fifth Dimension. Rivers came to me with idea of producing the group singing a 'white' song. Before then, the group had been doing R&B music." The song River's chose, "Go Where You Wanna Go," became a hit in 1966/67 (#16 BB). Explains Gordon, "River's was a friend of Lou Adler, who produced the Mamas & The Papas, and was attracted to the material and direction of the Mamas & The Papas. He patterned the Fifth Dimension's harmonies after them."

Gordon co-produced with Rivers the Fifth Dimension breakthrough hit, the grammy winning Jimmy Webb composition "Up-Up And Away" (#7 BB, 1967). Voices Gordon, "River's was uncomfortable with the Fifth Dimension surpassing him as an artist, so he choose not to produce them anymore. River's recommended that the group be oduced by Bones Howe, who had just had success producing the Association. Howe knew how to produce groups and he thereafter chose all of the songs recorded by the Fifth Dimension. His formula was to combine white pop composers (ala Webb, Sedaka, Nyro) with a soul sound."

Throughout the 1970s, Gordon continued to manage not only the Fifth Dimension and Al Wilson, but other premier artists such as Tony Orlando And Dawn, Thelma Houston, and Willie Hutch. Says Gordon, "I got out of the music business in 1979. My cycle was over and I went on to other things, such as merchandising during the 1984 Olympics. Now, I am getting back into it again." (Gordon is now in the process of seeking a record deal for his new management client, vocalist/instrumentalist Sean Holt.)

Excerpts from article by Ben McLane