Strong was inspired by current events
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 3:29 am
Either way, whatever fame Mr. Strong earned on radios across America didn’t quite last. His follow-up songs, including “Yes, No, Maybe So” in 1960, weren’t hits.
In 1961, he left Motown for other studios but was lured back a few years later by an opportunity to write songs. With producer Norman Whitfield, he co-wrote “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” performed by Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips; “War” for Edwin Starr; and several songs for the Temptations, including “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.”
In the case of “War,” Mr.
“I had a cousin who was a paratrooper that got hurt pretty bad in buy phone number list Vietnam,” Mr. Strong told L.A. Weekly. “I also knew a guy who used to sing with Lamont Dozier that got hit by shrapnel and was crippled for life. You talk about these things with your families when you’re sitting at home, and it inspires you to say something about it.”
Absolutely nothing, listen to me, oh
Barrett Strong Jr. was born Feb. 5, 1941, in West Point, Miss., the only son of six children. He was 4 when the family moved to Detroit, and his father, a minister, soon bought him a piano. He began singing in middle school, which he attended with Aretha Franklin and Dozier, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“I thought I was really a star then,” he told the paper.
Before connecting with Gordy, he performed at local music joints around Detroit.
Mr. Strong drifted in and out of music, working at Chrysler on the production line and at an automat restaurant, among other blue-collar jobs that supported his family.
In 1961, he left Motown for other studios but was lured back a few years later by an opportunity to write songs. With producer Norman Whitfield, he co-wrote “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” performed by Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips; “War” for Edwin Starr; and several songs for the Temptations, including “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.”
In the case of “War,” Mr.
“I had a cousin who was a paratrooper that got hurt pretty bad in buy phone number list Vietnam,” Mr. Strong told L.A. Weekly. “I also knew a guy who used to sing with Lamont Dozier that got hit by shrapnel and was crippled for life. You talk about these things with your families when you’re sitting at home, and it inspires you to say something about it.”
Absolutely nothing, listen to me, oh
Barrett Strong Jr. was born Feb. 5, 1941, in West Point, Miss., the only son of six children. He was 4 when the family moved to Detroit, and his father, a minister, soon bought him a piano. He began singing in middle school, which he attended with Aretha Franklin and Dozier, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“I thought I was really a star then,” he told the paper.
Before connecting with Gordy, he performed at local music joints around Detroit.
Mr. Strong drifted in and out of music, working at Chrysler on the production line and at an automat restaurant, among other blue-collar jobs that supported his family.