Barrett Strong Dies: Motown Artist & Songwriter Was 81

Barrett Strong, artist and songwriter credited with having given Motown its first hit with “Money (That’s What I Want),” has died. He was 81.

Motown founder Berry Gordy confirmed Strong’s death in a statement where he called his songs “revolutionary.”

“I am saddened to hear of the passing of Barrett Strong, one of my earliest artists, and the man who sang my first big hit,” Gordy said in a statement shared by Billboard. “Barrett was not only a great singer and piano player, but he, along with his writing partner Norman Whitefield, created an incredible body of work, primarily with the Temptations. Their hit songs were revolutionary in sound and captured the spirit of the times like ‘Cloud Nine’ and the still relevant, ‘Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today).'”

Barrett was born on February 5, 1941 in West Point, Mississippi. Strong’s “Money” was a such hit that it was later covered by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Richard Wylie and His Band, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Searchers, Flying Lizards, The Sonics and Buddy Guy. Strong recorded the vocals for “Money” and is credited as a co-author with Janie Bradford. However, Gordy would later come out to say that Strong’s name was a “clerical error” in the original copyright registration.

Strong would continue working with Motown as a lyricist creating other hits like “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight, “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” by Paul Young and “Smiling Faces Sometimes” by The Undisputed Truth. He would also be behind The Temptations’ “Cloud Nine,” “I Can’t Get Next To You,” and “Psychedelic Shack,” among others.