Ron Onesti: Rare Earth … a 'rare' band from Motown!

When you hear the word "Motown," what comes to mind for most is a vision of five guys in powder blue suits performing familiar R&B hits with flowing choreography. Or, maybe its three high-haired ladies in long gowns, singing harmoniously with various "oohs" and "heys" in the background.

But for an African-American-owned record company that recorded and marketed primarily African-American groups, the all-white Rare Earth band was a unique act for the label. At least it was in the beginning.

I am a huge Motown fan! Yes, I have emulated the stylish moves of the Temptations during "My Girl" in the mirror plenty of times. When a young Michael Jackson hit the television screen with his brothers on "The Ed Sullivan Show," I A-B-C 1-2-3'd for hours! But it took all these years later, and a conversation with Gil Bridges, the leader of the band Rare Earth, to really understand this other dynamic that existed with the hit-making machine in the Detroit Motor City.

Rock 'n' roll as we know it today began in the early 1950s primarily when white entertainers in the South took the music they experienced from blues artists and gospel groups and combined it with Western swing. Alan Freed, the Cleveland/New York City disc jockey who is credited with coining the phrase "rock and roll" would also do bus tours with the rock 'n' roll radio stars of the day … who ironically were mostly African-American R&B artists.

In an effort to obtain a more-fair "cut" of the proceeds from music recordings for African-American artists, songwriter Berry Gordy Jr. opened his Hitsville U.S. A recording studio on West Grand Boulevard in the heart of Detroit in 1958. Referencing the city of Detroit and its many automobile manufacturers as Motor-Town, "Motown" was born.

From 1961 to 1971, Motown had an incredible 110 top-ten hits on the Billboard charts! Even with the monster successes of The Miracles, The Jackson 5, The Supremes, The Temptations, Little Stevie Wonder and several other Motown acts, Gordy saw an opportunity in the "white" rock market of the late Sixties. That was before the Woodstock Music & Art Fair drew more than 400,000 patrons over a span of three days in 1969.

So Gordy began to sign "white" artists under the slogan "The Sound of Young America." There is much misinformation about which artist or group was the first "white" act to be signed by Motown. But after time spent with Rare Earth's Gil Bridges, I pretty much got the record set straight.

"We weren't the first white group signed by Motown," Bridges said. "But we were the most successful!"

Successful? I should say so. Gordy liked the band so much, he even named the foundling label (which was still under the umbrella of Motown Records) "Rare Earth Records."

The Detroit band began as a bunch of high school friends who found themselves in the middle of the Motown craze. "We loved the music, it was everywhere!" Bridges recalled. "It was a time when you would see The Miracles sitting on the outside steps at Hitsville, or run into Diana Ross at the local grocery store. They all lived in the Hitsville neighborhood! We would play all that stuff at the local bars and people loved it! When we would do a cover of the Temps' hit "Get Ready," the band members had a great time with it and would all do their own solos. It became our signature song and a 21-minute finale! People actually came to see us just for that! The execs from Motown would see us at the local bars and they thought that we would be a perfect 'white' act to sign."

The band stuck to its guns when it came to recording "Get Ready," and the album featured the entire 21-minute version of the song. Next came more smash hits, "I'm Losing You" and "I Just Want To Celebrate."

I asked Gil what it was like at Motown, especially for a "white" act. "It was exactly how it has been defined, a hit factory. The artists would be there for hours and hours, going from the studio to practicing in the hallways, to eating in the kitchen, just pumping out music. It was nothing to see Stevie Wonder on the piano or Martha Reeves answering phones."

Actually, if you have ever heard the song "Rock And Roll Heaven" by the Righteous Brothers, this is what I picture it to be like, I thought to myself!

"It was cool to go out on tour, and the most interesting thing about it would be to see the look on the faces of the kids when we walked out on stage. Everyone thought we were a black act," Gil said. "Very few of them hid their amazement. We took it as a huge compliment!"

I have had the privilege of working with Rare Earth on many occasions, especially at my Arcada Theatre. Just before introducing them I imagined what it was like at those crazy sock-hops. I tried to A-B-C 1-2-3 again, but just like most other child stars who grow up to be less than cute, I was just another 50-something white guy tripping backward with a feeble attempt at the moon walk. Michael … help!

• Ron Onesti is president and CEO of The Onesti Entertainment Corp. and The Historic Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Celebrity questions and comments? Email ron@oshows.com.