Barrett Strong dies: Motown artist and songwriter turns 81

Barrett Strong, the artist and songwriter who gave Motown its first hit “Money (That’s What I Want),” has died. He turned 81.

Motown founder Berry Gordy confirmed Strong’s death in a statement, calling his songs “revolutionary.”

“I am saddened to hear of the passing of Barrett Strong, one of my earliest artists and the man who sang my first big hit,” Gordy said in a statement shared by Billboard. “Barrett was not only a great singer and pianist, but he created incredible work with his writing partner Norman Whitefield, especially The Temptations. Their hits were revolutionary in sound and captured the zeitgeist like ‘Cloud Nine’ and the still relevant ‘Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today)’.”

Barrett was born on February 5, 1941 in West Point, Mississippi. Strong’s “Money” was a hit and was later covered by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Richard Wylie and his band, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Searchers, Flying Lizards, The Sonics and Buddy Guy. Strong vocal recordings for “Money” and credited as co-writing with Janie Bradford. However, Gordy later said Strong’s name was a “misspelling” in the original copyright registration.

Strong went on to work as a lyricist at Motown, creating other hits such as Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” Paul Young’s “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” and “Smiling “. Faces Soms” by The Undisputed Truth. He would also be behind The Temptations’ Cloud Nine, I Can’t Get Next To You and Psychedelic Shack, among others.