Over 25 years Whitfield co-wrote and produced many Motown hits including "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "(I Know) I'm Losing You", "Cloud Nine", "War", "I Can't Get Next to You", "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today", "Smiling Faces Sometimes", "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". 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[1] He found a songwriting collaborator in lyricist Barrett Strong, the performer on Motown's first hit record, "Money (That's What I Want)", and wrote material for the Temptations and other Motown artists such as Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips, both of whom recorded Whitfield-produced hit versions of the Whitfield/Strong composition "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". She was a member of the Burlington Seventh Day Adventist Church serving as treasurer for eight years and was a Life Member of Athens V.F.W. 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 . A native of Harlem, Whitfield spent his early teen years hanging out in local pool halls. Starr's version of "War" w Show more. [11] In 1997, she co-starred opposite Danny Glover and Rosanna Arquette in the comedy film Gone Fishin', appeared in the supporting role in the Canadian drama The Planet of Junior Brown, and played the mother of Jurnee Smollett's title character in the critically acclaimed independent drama Eve's Bayou. All net worths are calculated using data drawn from public sources. DC Young Fly Daughter's Nova Whitfield: Age, Mom, Bio, Parents, Net Worth! However, his real breakthrough came in 1966 when Whitfield became the main producer for The Temptations music group. Story highlights. Its emblem, a W, was virtually an inverted Motown M with a different color scheme, and he took the Undisputed Truth with him and kept tinkering with their sound. Whitfield was born and raised in Harlem, New York. His father, Friendly Womack, spotted Bobby's talent on the guitar at an early age, and Bobby was only Read Full Biography. writer: "Too Many Fish in the Sea" - as Norman Whitfield Jr. writer: "Ball of Confusion That's What The World Is Today" 1970 - as Norman J. Whitfield, writer: "Back Again" - as Norman Jesse Whitfield, Documentary writer: "Just My Imagination Running Away With Me" - as W. Norman, writer: "I Can't Get Next To You" - as Norman J. Whitfield, writer: "I Can't Get Next to You" - as Norman J. Whitfield, TV Special writer: "I Heard It Through The Grape Vine", Video Game writer: "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", Video Game as Norman J. Whitfield, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg", Documentary writer: "Just My Imagination Running Away with Me", "Ball of Confusion That's What the World Is Today" - as Norman J Whitfield, writer: "I heard it through the grapevine", "I heard it through the Grapevine", writer: "Just My Imagination Running Away with Me" - as Norman J. Whitfield, writer: "I Can't Get Next to You" 1964 - as Norman J. Whitfield, as Norman J. Whitfield, "CLOUD NINE", "I WISH IT WOULD RAIN", "TAKE A LOOK AROUND", "PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE", "SMILING FACES SOMETIMES", TV Movie documentary writer: "Needle in a Haystack", "Ain't Too Proud To Beg", writer: "I Can't Get Next to You" 1969 - as Norman J. Whitfield, writer: "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" - as Norman J. Whitfield, writer: "I Wanna Get Next to You" - as Norman Jesse Whitfield, music: "Just My Imagination Running Away With Me", "Just My Imagination Running Away with Me", Documentary writer: "Holler If Ya' Hear Me", writer: "Pride and Joy" - as Norman J. Whitfield, Party at the Palace: The Queen's Concerts, Buckingham Palace, TV Movie documentary writer: "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", Documentary as Norman J. Whitfield, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Cloud Nine", "Girl Why You Wanna Make Me Blue", "Ball Of Confusion That's What The World Is Today", "Pride And Joy", writer: "Anything For You Divine Mill Film Re-Mix" - as Norman J. Whitfield, TV Series 1 episode, 1977 writer - 3 episodes, 1977 - 2000, writer: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Superstar Remember How You Got Where You Are", "Ain't Too Proud To Beg", writer: "Car Wash The Pop Rox Car Jack Remix", TV Movie writer: "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", "Smiling Faces Sometimes" - uncredited, writer: "Too Many Fish in the Sea" - as Norman J. Whitfield, writer: - as N. Whitfield / writer: "Luv Me, Luv Me", TV Movie writer: "I Wanna Get Next To You", "Car Wash" - uncredited, TV Series writer: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", writer: "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special. Required fields are marked *. Born in New York in 1943, Whitfield wasn't yet in his teens when R&B began exerting itself as a major musical force. On January 18, 2005, Whitfield pleaded guilty for failing to report royalty income he earned from 1995 to 1999 to the Internal Revenue Service. After Temptations lead singer David Ruffin was replaced by Dennis Edwards in 1968, Whitfield moved the group into a harder, darker sound that featured a blend of psychedelic rock and funk heavily inspired by the work of Sly & the Family Stone and Funkadelic. "Even as his body began to fail him, his mind was so strong," she said. Whitfield did return to Motown briefly in the early '80s to produce the Temptations' "Sail Away," and also the soundtrack album to the movie The Last Dragon. 2023 L.E. In his late teens, he and his family moved to Detroit, Michigan so that his father could join his sister and work in her . 1 on the R&B charts in 1966. 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. During his last months alive, Whitfield was bed-ridden at Los Angeles's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he underwent treatment for diabetes and other ailments. CNN . 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. He recruited new members, most notably Taka Boom (aka Yvonne Stevens, the sister of Chaka Khan), later with the Glass Family, to work with Joe Harris, and saw hits from this version of the group with "You + Me = Love" and "Let's Go Down to the Disco." He was survived by his daughter and four sons from who he had eight grandchildren. Have you ever wondered how much wealth he accumulated for life? He paved the way for classics such as What Going On and Innervisions within Motown, plus hard-hitting political statements by the likes of the O'Jays and the Isley Brothers outside of it. He was born in Harlem in 1943. Her mother is an African-American while her father is Creole making her half Native American. Their separation was brief, however, as Shirley passed away on August 14, 2021. She was a former member of McGuffey Road Church of Christ and was fond of music. His main interest as a youth was centered on the pool hall, not the dance hall -- according to Nelson George in his book Where Did Our Love Go?, Whitfield not only developed a steady hand with a pool cue, but a good eye for observing and sizing up those around him. 14240 Visits. In his late teens his family moved to Detroit, Michigan so that his father could join his sister and work in her husband's chain of drug stores, and Norman began attending Northwestern High School. 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. Advertisement The song was so well-known that 22 years later, its lyrics ("War, what is it good for") figured in a key joke (involving Tolstoy's War and Peace) at the center of an episode of Seinfeld. 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. Family Life He fathered four sons and one daughter. He was to see sides and potential in that group's sound that would enhance both of their careers in the decade to follow. Norman Whitfield net worth: Norman Whitfield was an American songwriter and producer who had a net worth of $10 million. Whitfield gave the song to Gladys Knight and the Pips, who made it Motown's bestselling single at the time. This memorial website was created in memory of Robert M Whitfield, 78, born on December 30, 1926 and passed away on March 2, 2005. When a notification about first-round voting in the 2021 Grammys slipped into my digital letterbox the other day, the initial thought which came to mind was of Motown's first such honour - for 1968's "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations - and the man behind it, Norman Whitfield.. Norman Whitfield Popularity Most Popular #126320 First Name Norman #23 May 12 Singer #27 Last Name Whitfield #15 Norman Whitfield Is A Member Of Born In 1940 R&B Singers [17], In 2015, Whitfield was cast as the main villain in Greenleaf, the Oprah Winfrey Network original scripted drama series about the unscrupulous world of the Greenleaf family and their sprawling Memphis megachurch. She also starred as Dorothea Garibaldi in the Disney Channel films The Cheetah Girls and The Cheetah Girls 2.