Music
Mickey Stevenson
born 1937 · songwriter, record producer, A&R director
Motown's first head of A&R, who assembled the house band later known as the Funk Brothers and co-wrote "Dancing in the Street".
- Born
age 89- Birth name
- William Stevenson
- Also known as
- William "Mickey" Stevenson · Avery Vandenburg
- Detroit years
- 1959–1967
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Stevenson joined Tamla/Motown in 1959, the year it was founded, after years singing doo-wop and gospel. As head of the artists and repertoire department during the company's peak years in Detroit, he matched songs, producers and singers, and he organized the in-house studio band that became known as the Funk Brothers, the musicians who played on nearly every Hitsville session. He also wrote and produced: "Dancing in the Street" with Ivy Jo Hunter and Marvin Gaye, Gaye's first hit "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", "It Takes Two", "Ask the Lonely" for the Four Tops, and Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted". With Shorty Long he wrote "Devil with a Blue Dress", later a hit for Detroit's Mitch Ryder. Smokey Robinson's "Mickey's Monkey" is named after him. He left Motown in 1967 for MGM and later produced stage musicals.
Highlights
- Head of Motown A&R during its 1960s peak
- Organized Motown's in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers
- Co-wrote "Dancing in the Street" (1964)
- Co-wrote "Devil with a Blue Dress", a hit for Mitch Ryder
- Namesake of the Miracles' "Mickey's Monkey" (1963)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1959–1967
Motown Museum
He ran Motown's A&R department and supervised sessions in Studio A.