If you were to drop a nickel into a jukebox back in the 1960s, chances are only seconds later you would’ve been be tapping your toes to either Aretha Franklin belting out “What you want! Baby I got it!,” Stevie Wonder crooning “I was made to love her…hey, hey, hey” or the upbeat sound of Martha and the Vandellas singing “Nowhere to run to baaaby—nowhere to hide.”
All three acts (and countless more chart toppers) were dubbed the “Motown Sound,” placing Detroit firmly at the center of the music industry.
“It all happened here in Detroit,” says Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas. “Motown was the sound of young America.”
A resident of Detroit since she was 11 months old, Reeves, 66, still performs 20 weeks per year and sits on the Detroit City Council. She says that although things certainly weren’t entirely rosy for Detroit in the ’60s, music was a bright spot.
“[Detroit] suffered a depression and there were a lot of people who were out of work, but we sang our way through it,” Reeves remembers. “We found that our music was accepted everywhere. It was Detroit that made us famous.”
Fast-forward more than 40 years and things have changed in Detroit. Motown music is still widely celebrated, but the city itself has been battling back from its depression, blossoming to become a destination with exciting sporting events, entertainment options, lively festivals, world-class restaurants, and well-appointed accommodation offerings.
“Detroit is flourishing,” Reeves says, adding that one of her favorite things to do is stroll next to the Detroit River on a sunny day along the city’s new RiverWalk. “It is just beautiful.”
While the city is primarily known for its music and automotive history, it is also becoming a culinary capital with hot spots such as Sweet Lorraines, Sweet Georgia Browns and Roostertail.
“You can find a good eating spot in any direction you travel,” Reeves says, adding that one of her favorite restaurants is Seldom Blues, a jazz supper club located in the Renaissance Center.
Reeves says she loves going there for its great food and also likes to listen to its owner, Alexander Zonjic, play the jazz flute.
“It is wonderful to hear such an amazing flautist as he is,” she says.
Zonjic, a world-renown recording artist and musician, has also been the voice behind The Alexander Zonjic Morning Show on Detroit’s popular jazz station, V 98.7 FM, for the past 10 years. He is part of Detroit’s new generation of music and says there is no place he would rather be.
“I’ve had the option of living anywhere,” he says. “I chose Detroit because it is one of the great music cities in the world. There is not an artist that performs anywhere on the planet that has not been influenced by Detroit in one way, shape or form.”
He says that around every corner, visitors can find live music ranging from supper clubs such as Seldom Blues to nationally recognized venues that include The Fox Theatre, The Historic Gem & Century Theatres, Max M. Fisher Music Center, and The Masonic Temple.
Beyond its exciting music scene, Zonjic says the city has gone through a renaissance in recent years with the infusion of exciting venues and activity options.
“Detroit is an incredible city with a great downtown area,” he says, adding that people who haven’t seen the city in 10 years would be shocked to see how much it has changed with the introduction of Comerica Park, Ford Field and Campus Martius Park (located right on Woodward Avenue, complete with an ice-skating rink in the winter and grassy green space in the summer).
Detroit’s cultural offerings are also well known, from the Detroit Institute of Arts and Detroit Science Center to the Arab American National Museum, Automotive Hall of Fame, and the Motown Historical Museum (www.motownmuseum.com), a place dear to Reeves’ heart.
“I would hate for [visitors] to come and miss the Motown museum because my baby pictures are there,” she quips, adding that the museum is located in the house where many of the city’s music legends recorded their songs. “It is great to go back and feel that spiritual connection to where it all began.”
