In 1983, she appeared in the comedy film Doctor Detroit (1983), playing the supporting role of Thelma Cleland. Whitfield made her professional screen debut in 1981 as Jill Thomas in the critically acclaimed NBC serial drama Hill Street Blues. After several years fighting diabetes, Norman Whitfield passed away at the age of 68, on the 16th September 2008 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. Norman Whitfield, a Grammy-winning songwriter, producer and arranger for Motown Records whose many hits, including the signature song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," helped solidify the. 1976 Grammy winner for Best Original TV or Motion Picture score for. Some of his first projects included releasing The Undisputed Truths hit single You + Me = Love. Rose Royce (whose members were originally Edwin Starr's backing band while at Motown) went on to record three more popular albums, and had two huge UK hits with "Wishing on a Star" (1977) and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (1978), but could never top the success of "Car Wash", which served as the theme song to the 1976 motion picture Car Wash. Ain't Too Proud To Beg - The Rolling Stones. Until yesterday I was still holding out the slenderest hope of somehow securing an interview with Norman Whitfield, the reclusive . It's possible to glimpse the fine line the quintet and its producer were walking on the live recordings from the tour for Masterpiece, on In Japan. On the cover of their last album together, 1973's Masterpiece, his own picture loomed larger than the band's. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). According to sources, it is estimated that the total amount of Norman Whitfields net worth, as of early 2017, would exceed the sum of $10 million, acquired by his prosperous career in the music industry which spanned almost 50 years. Norman Whitfield Beckford, aged 97, of Hill Street, Seven Hills Estates and formerly of Matthew Town, Inagua, died at his daughter's residence on Sunday, December 12 th, 2021.. The psychedelic soul records Whitfield produced for the Temptations and other artists such as Edwin Starr and the Undisputed Truth experimented with and updated the Motown sound for the late-1960s. Songs written by Norman Whitfield. Whitfield has won a total of seven NAACP Image Awards. In 1976, Whitfield wrote and produced Rose Royces hit single Car Wash which in 1977 served as the main theme for Michael Schultzs eponymous comedy movie Car Wash, and earned him another Grammy Award. ", Video Game writer: "I Wish It Would Rain" - uncredited, TV Special writer: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", writer: "Just My Imagination Running Away With Me", "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", music: "Richard Pryor Dialogue" / producer: "Car Wash", "6 O'Clock DJ Let's Rock", "I Wanna Get Next to You", "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is", "Zig Zag", "Mid Day DJ Theme", "Daddy Rich", "I'm Going Down", "Sunrise", "Righteous Rhythm", "Water", "Doin' What Comes Naturally", "Keep On Keepin' On" / writer: "Car Wash", "6 O'Clock DJ Let's Rock", "I Wanna Get Next to You", "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is", "Zig Zag", "Mid Day DJ Theme", "Daddy Rich", "Richard Pryor Dialogue", "I'm Going Do, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Documentary writer: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", Documentary writer: "Ain't Too Proud To Beg", writer: "Just My Immagination Running Away With Me" - as Whitfield, Norman, writer: "I Wish It Would Rain" - as Norman J. Whitfield, Video Game writer: "Smiling Faces Sometimes", writer: "Eye of the Tiger / Holler If Ya Hear Me", writer: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" - as Norman J. Whitfield, writer: "I Heard it Through the Grapevyne" - as Norman J. Whitfield, Documentary writer: "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" - as Norman J Whitfield, writer: "PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE" by nm1100552, writer: "Ball of Confusion That's What the World Is Today" - as Norman J. Whitfield, Video documentary writer: "Cloud 9", "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", TV Series documentary writer - 2 episodes, TV Series documentary writer - 5 episodes, writer: "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" - as Norman J. Whitfield, writer: " I Know I'm Losing You" - as Norman J. Whitfield. The Car Wash soundtrack won Whitfield a Grammy Award for Best Album of Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special. This engagement provided the basis for Norman Whitfields net worth and also helped him to set his foot in the world of songwriting. .more .more 57 Dislike Share Save Alain Robert 12.3K subscribers Subscribe Comments 6 Add a. Whitfield's big success with his own label, however, and his last big commercial hit, came in 1976 with the group Rose Royce, which he had discovered during their time as Edwin Starr's backup band (known then as Magic Wand). But friction and antagonism grew between Whitfield and the Temptations; the group hated how Whitfield put more emphasis on the instrumentation instead of their vocals, and that he was writing fewer romantic ballads for them. In 2005, he was sentenced to six months house arrest for tax evasion, avoiding imprisonment only because of diabetes and other health problems. Survived by his daughter, Irasha; sons, Norman; Michael; Johnnie; and Roland; a brother, Bill; eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. His work was also recorded over the years by artists as varied as Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bruce Springsteen. WHITFIELD Alan Victor of Darlington aged 77 years on 18th February, peacefully at home with his loving wife Joan and daughter Dawn by his side. That year he left Motown to set up Whitfield Records but his only subsequent major success was Rose Royce, who released the likes of Car Wash and Wishing on a Star, and he retired from music in the early 80s. He was a fast learner, too -- at 18, he'd written and produced at Detroit's Thelma Records, including sides by Richard Street (future member of the Temptations), and played as a member of the Distants, the precursors to the latter group; he'd also played tambourine with the band Popcorn and the Mohawks on some Thelma sides backing the Distants. He worked with The Temptations as a producer and songwriter and produced eight of their albums. Norman was raised in Harlem where he spent the majority of his spare time in pool halls. His genres are R&B,soul,pop,psychedelic soul,funk,disco. Norman Whitfield had an international smash hit in 1976 with Rose Royce's "Car Wash", issued on MCA Records. Childhood. 1 on the R&B charts in 1966. Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu. She leaves to cherish her memory, her mother, of Hubbard; 4 brothers; 1 uncle, Bill Whitfield of Calif.; many cousins and host of other family members and friends. One is hard-pressed to find anything less than 100 percent enthusiasm from the Temptations, especially on "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," but while their performance of "Masterpiece" is energetic (and the song receives a rousing roar at start and finish from the crowd), it's also abbreviated and pushes the vocalists to the fore, and doesn't even attempt to emulate Whitfield's elaborate studio approach. : Lynn Whitfield became Josephine Baker, Budapest became Paris and Harlem as HBO raced to complete the first movie about the storied entertainer's life", "HBO's 'Josephine Baker': The Naked Truth", "Lynn Whitfield Shimmies into the Skin of Sultry Josephine Baker", "TV Weekend; With Josephine Baker Through a Long Life", "2 Emmys For James Earl Jones; 'L.A. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her breakout performance as Josephine Baker in the HBO biographical film The Josephine Baker Story (1991). From 1963 onward, Whitfield had produced most of their recordings of his own songs, and by 1966, he'd completely taken over producing the Temptations in the wake of their huge hit "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," as well as "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" and "I Know I'm Losing You." He was known especially for his work with the Temptations; he produced many of their recordings for Motown, including the album Cloud Nine, whose title track earned the group a Grammy in 1969. More than that, however, Whitfield and his personal drive became an important part of the psychological dynamic of the label, often pushing Motown founder Berry Gordy . The company had started the '70s in exceptional financial health, the world at its feet and the sky seemingly the limit, but by the middle of the decade it had taken huge losses, not only on some recordings, but more tellingly on several dubious film-related projects that truly crippled their bottom line. She began her acting career in television and theatre before progressing to supporting roles in film. Jacob Lewis Fuller. Twitter. During the next 12 years til 1974, he produced all the groups material, including eight studio albums, and also wrote a dozen of their hit singles. When the record label chief vetoed a single release of Whitfield's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" that had been cut by Marvin Gaye, opting instead for a more romantic song, Whitfield refused to let the matter drop. Her mother is a founding member of the Baton Rouge chapter of The Links Incorporated and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. [4] In the movie, she appeared nude on-screen. Alongside his Motown lyrical collaborator Barrett Strong, he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2004. Her daughter has opted to pursue a career in music, and Lynn has been very supportive of her endeavors. The song also became one of the most valuable copyrights owned by Motown, as it was covered by hundreds of artists, most notably Creedence Clearwater Revival, both on an edited single, and as an epic-length jam on their perennially popular LP Cosmo's Factory. Norman Jesse Whitfield (May 12, 1940 September 16, 2008) was an American songwriter and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during the 1960s. His daughter, CNN Anchor Fredricka Whitfield, recalls the lessons he taught his . War was recorded by the Temptations before Edwin Starr, and Papa Was a Rollin' Stone was tried out on Whitfield's pet group the Undisputed Truth prior to the Temptations. Until yesterday I was still holding out the slenderest hope of somehow securing an interview with Norman Whitfield, the reclusive genius of psychedelic soul. [5] In his review, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly said: "Whitfield is exceptionally good as the legendary singer-dancer who came to prominence in the 20s for her throaty singing and her notorious "banana dance"a wiggly little number executed while wearing nothing except a skirt of real bananas. Whitfield became the company's spark plug as music entered the psychedelic era, taking to the new sound, and especially the use of sound effects, more easily than most of the label's production personnel. Gordy refused to release versions of I Heard It Through the Grapevine by the Miracles, the Isley Brothers and Marvin Gaye. admin March 2, 2022 Biography Leave a comment. The Gladys Knight & the Pips' version was the best-selling Motown single so far, but it was surpassed a year later by Gaye's version. Photos by Larry Parham. Levi and Shirley Whitfield enjoyed more than 66 years together until death parted them when Levi passed away on June 4, 2021. Whitfield enjoyed a professional triumph with the Temptations' All Directions (1972), and followed it up with his greatest effort, the appropriately named Masterpiece (1973); and it was a two-fold personal and professional triumph, for both albums featured a lineup of the group -- Dennis Edwards, Richard Street, Damon Harris, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams -- which, though well-regarded, lacked the presence of acknowledged stars Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams. Whitfield also starred in a number of movies in the 2000s and 2010s. In late 1962, Whitfield became part of the early boom era at Motown Records, joining the ranks of Harvey Fuqua, Mickey Stevenson, and the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team. He has been credited as one of the creators of the Motown Sound and of the late-1960s subgenre of psychedelic soul. Norman Whitfield was among the architects from the Motown audio, from its early top being a country wide label through its waning times of major graph achievement. Norman Jesse Whitfield Birth 12 May 1941 Harlem, New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA Death 16 Sep 2008 (aged 67) Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA Burial Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles County, California, USA Show Map Plot Miss Whitfield was born September 5, 1975 in Hollywood, a daughter of Norman Whitfield and Asari Graham. His first professional engagement came at his age of 19, when he began serving in Motown headquarters Hitsville U.S.A. in its quality control department. Among his hits there were the soundtrack album for the film Car Wash (1976), for which he wrote the score. And the Temptations, whose singing had taken on a darker sound in 1968 when original lead singer David Ruffin was succeeded by Dennis Edwards, effectively became his "instrument," Whitfield conceiving ever more ambitious songs and productions in which to employ them; their singles and albums were his canvas, which he filled up with his songs, creating ever more involved and ambitious works in the process. Daughter Mignon Strong said her father's strength of spirit persisted through his final days. Your email address will not be published. Their separation was brief, however, as Shirley passed away on August 14, 2021. While we work diligently to ensure that our numbers are as accurate as possible, unless otherwise indicated they are only estimates. [1], During his 25-year career, Whitfield co-wrote and produced many enduring hits for Motown artists, including "Ain't Too Proud to Beg",[2] "(I Know) I'm Losing You", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Cloud Nine", "I Can't Get Next to You", "War", "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)", "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)", "Smiling Faces Sometimes", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". Whitfield was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the daughter of Jean (ne Butler), a former president of the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, and Dr. Valerian Smith, who was also a composer who wrote the musicals, The Supper and The Wake. He told later interviewers that his family had settled in Detroit after their car broke down there. Your email address will not be published. The Temptations' version earned a second Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for Whitfield and the Temptations, and Whitfield and Strong shared the songwriters' award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. But Berry did not want to damage Temptations' image by blatant political statement. She later co-starred in the films The Slugger's Wife, Silverado, and Jaws: The Revenge. When he was a teenager, he and his family settled in Detroit after their car broke down there. The second thought was regret: that there has been . [15] She also had a recurring role on Hit the Floor[16] and appeared as the abusive mother of April (Rochelle Aytes) on Mistresses. He had been with Motown for several years without scoring a major hit, but in 1970 he enjoyed the biggest single of his career with "War," co-written by Whitfield and Holland. 04:13. The dawn of the '70s and the success of albums such as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Stevie Wonder's Innervisions saw the company enter a last, great flowering in its recordings. [18][19] The series also starred Keith David, Merle Dandridge, Kim Hawthorne, and Oprah Winfrey. Norman Whitfield net worth: Norman Whitfield was an American songwriter and producer who had a net worth of $10 million. He was to see sides and potential in that group's sound that would enhance both of their careers in the decade to follow. In this Digital Exclusive, Lynn Whitfield's daughter Grace asks the group how they manage to support each other and stay connected during these times.Find OW.