Donna Richardson Travel Journalist

Meet the dynamic duo from Detroit who have connections to Motown Greats. Kern Brantley, Lady Gaga’s former bass player and Sam Donald, President of Detroit Musix

By Donna Richardson

A vibrant city, known for its contributions to the music and automotive industry was once among the wealthiest in the world. The economic prosperity of the 1920s brought Art Deco skyscrapers and great industrialisation and it became a major hub for the automobile industry. Detroit earned the nickname “Motor City” as it became the hub for General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler to manufacture its cars. By 1950, Detroit employed 296,000 people in manufacturing jobs in the auto industry.

The city was home to people of different backgrounds, including migrants from the Deep South and Africa who brought soulful music and gospel performances, that helped create a significant musical movement that produced some of the greatest musicians of our time. Berry Gordy, a factory worker with a passion for soul and gospel music, founded Tamla Motown with a loan of $800, creating one of the most successful record labels of all time, and in turn became Motown Records.

Musical legends such as The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, and Aretha Franklin were all from Detroit, showcasing the city’s remarkable musical talent. Eminem, a significant influence for many, also came from the city. In recent years, techno has revitalised the city’s music scene. However, the city’s soulful roots and rich musical heritage continue to captivate as it celebrates 65 years of its greatest export ‘Motown’.

“We have two great exports: our cars and our music, said Sam Donald of Detroit Musix. “The great migration brought about all of the musicians we have and the beautiful thing about it was there was a sound that influenced Motown. Pre-Motown is a definite era. Detroit had a definite sound which is down to John Lee Hooker. Then, along came Berry Gordy, who wrote hits for Jackie Wilson and founded Tamla Records on January 12, 1959 which became Motown Records, in 1960.

“Detroit was where it was all happening,” said Sam. “Most Detroit music stems from gospel music, which heavily influenced the Motown sound, which circled back and shaped a new form of music called “Contemporary Gospel”. Rance Allen and Mattie Moss Clark, some of its early contributors, made way for The Winans (BeBe, CeCe, David Winans Pi,) The Clark Sisters (J. Moss, KiKi), Commissioned (Fred Hammond, Marvin Sapp, etc. It is like a who’s who of musical fame.

“ Everything revolves around music in Detroit. Talent was indeed expressing itself everywhere., Berry Gordy discovered much of the talent of Motown in Metro and Inkster where he went to the jazz clubs, and churches, on street corners and also discovered singers in talent competitions around the city of Detroit. There were a lot of these people around before Motown Records. Motown was just a convergence of different sounds. The trade is naturally a hybrid of different sounds which encapsulated a golden era.  The label began in 1960 but the music came before that.

“Before that was the likes of Jackie Wilson and our heritage blended into what became Motown records.  Detroit is a great hybrid and Motown was a great middle ground and everything after the golden era was something that came out of a hybrid of sound. What it was made up of was the Gospel in the churches, the Jazz in the jazz clubs and the blues. Berry also took the symphonic sound that the DSO produced as well. That is what we were all raised on. Motown was the sound of the city. The Detroit sound is a sound onto itself. They say that so many people can sing in the city that they put something in the water. I can’t sing but I love music. Then it resurged again in the 1980s when Anita Baker was part of the second wave of Detroit artists paired with producer Michael Powell.”

“My mum went to High School with Diana Ross – Kern Brantley

Sam manages Kern Brantley, formerly Lady Gaga’s former bass player. Both hail from the city and have some incredible stories to tell about the music scene.  Kern, 61, is a musical director for the stars who was born and raised in East Detroit.  He was Gaga’s bassist for six years and musical director for Beyonce, Destiny’s Child and Mary J Blige, he has also toured with Chris Brown and Ne-Yo and has collaborated with P-Diddy, Aaliyah and Faith Evans to name but a few. His brother Valdez Brantley was the musical director for Usher for over a decade. The brothers grew up during the Motown explosion in the 1960s.

His mom went to school with Diana Ross and he grew up listening to Motown records. He attributes this early exposure to this music to his success as a musician. Choosing to follow a musical path himself, he got his first big break at the age of 18 when Gospel legend Thomas Whitfield became his mentor. He then introduced him to the late, great Aretha Franklin who asked him to become a session musician on her album when Whitfield produced her. This early exposure led to collaborations with a whole host of Motown, gospel and jazz greats and later R n B and popstars of the present day.

In Detroit, music is entwined into the fabric of the city. It is a very versatile city, we represent so many different genres of music, Kern explains: “I have had a chance to record with a lot of recording artists and gospel legends in Detroit, like The Winans and The Clark sisters. It is all thanks to the late great Thomas Whitfield who became my mentor, that’s how it started.  I also worked in the jazz world with jazz musicians like Earl Klugh as well as the great bassist Ron Carter. There were so many great legends in Detroit and I got to hang out around at world renown United Sounds Systems Recording Studios. Over at Motown, James Jamerson was the famous bassist who played on all of the records from the Temptations to the Four Tops, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder,  Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Jacksons and Marvin Gaye. ‘

“Growing up in that musical atmosphere was just amazing and music has always been a way of life for me. I wasn’t good at sports. I didn’t play baseball or football, but I gravitated to music.  I remember my mum used to play a lot of Motown Records around the house. My mom went to high school with Diana Ross, It was Northeastern High where Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson went too. She would tell us what it was like going to school with Diana Ross. We were influenced heavily by the sound of Motown in Detroit. Motown informed our parents’ lives because they were there when their schoolmates started to make it and it was an exciting time to be alive.”

Kern added:  “I just felt this bassline and it spoke to me. I was heavily influenced by James Jamerson and The Temptations and at the age of 18, I was mentored by the late great Thomas Whitfield who introduced me to Aretha Franklin. During that time, Thomas introduced me to The Winans who recorded with everyone,  including Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Eric Clapton, and Quincy Jones.”

“Smokey Robinson used to steal my dad’s girlfriends” – Sam Donald‘

His manager, Sam Donald, added: “While Kern’s mum went to high school with Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson used to steal my dad’s girlfriends, so just imagine growing up seeing your classmates and neighbourhood friends make it to the world stage. That’s the city that we grew up in. We had parents who appreciated the times and rooted for their friends, colleagues and classmates who had made it big. Detroit celebrated Motown, and everyone in the city embraced it. As a result, our parents, and we in turn, were exposed to incredible music and people as we grew up. You all got the music and we got a little bit of an inside story into the development of Motown. My aunt Dolores was great friends with Dennis Edwards, the lead singer of the Temptations.”

Sam added: “Music is truly the soundtrack of our lives. It speaks to good times, bad times and times to come. Just like they say there are six degrees of separation in life, there are six degrees of separation in Detroit from people in Motown. Kern is a musician who has links to all the great musicians and that is a testament to the Detroit family, it’s the Detroit way to help each other. There are two main exports in Detroit. Our cars and our music. There are singers and artists and a key thread is this man, Kern Brantley, who has a direct link to any of these artists.”

Nowadays, Kern Brantley can be seen supporting major R n B and popstars: But what is it like on the road with Beyonce, Ne-Yo and Lady Gaga? Kern was on tour with Gaga for two years and forged strong bonds with the supporting crew and even Gaga herself. He said: “You become friends with the people and the artists when you are on the road. You are all like one big family. Lady Gaga is a very hard worker so I learned a lot from her and Beyonce. I then went on to the next tour with Ne-Yo and then Chris Brown. I’ve been to London many times and played at Wembley with Lady Gaga and Beyonce and with an Asian pop artist called JJ Lin.”

As well as Motown, the ‘Detroit sound’ is also entwined with rock and roll. Bill Haley of the Comets,  who sang Rock Around the Clock and brought rock and roll to the masses, was also born in Highland Park, Michigan, a part of Detroit. The city gave birth to Rock’s Bob Seger and Alice Cooper as well as Techno Artists like Mike Banks and Filthy Rockwell.

“It is this amazing place where creatives gather,” said Kern.

“Music is such a fun thing, support your children, take them to live shows and take them around live music because it is a great career choice. Lady Gaga played the piano at four years old and when she was about eight or nine she started writing songs. It was something in her but it helped her a lot. Music is a great foundation for future success.”

With this in mind, Kern, works closely with Motown Museum to present Motown Bass Day on Rocket Plaza at the site where Motown began! Saturday, August 17th is this year’s event, just in time for the 65th Anniversary of the label. Also, the finals of the Motown Amplify -The Sound of Detroit at Detroit Music Hall, aimed at emerging Detroit artists to audition for the chance to win a $5,000 cash prize, performance engagement with Motown Records Label, studio time and a mentorship session with Kern himself, is a city favourite.