Motown’s Barney Ales Tells Stories About the Legendary Label For the First Time In A Visually Stunning New Book

See hundreds of never before seen photos in a new history of Motown Records

There are a lot of ways to tell the history of the Motown record label. In a new book, author Adam White uses hundreds of photos- many never previously made public- to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the business side of the label. White spoke with WDET’s Amanda LeClaire about working with former Motown President Barney Ales to create the book.

 

 

The Gordys and the Aleses in Detroit during the early 60s. Photo courtesy of Barney Ales.
 

 

 

Author

  • Amanda LeClaire is an award-winning journalist and managing editor and lead reporter of WDET's new environmental series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project, as well as WDET's CuriosiD podcast. She was the host of WDET’s CultureShift and a founding producer of the station’s flagship news talk show *Detroit Today*. Amanda also served as a Morning Edition host at WDET and previously worked as a host, audio and video producer, and reporter for Arizona Public Media.