Music
Robert White
1936–1994 · guitarist
Funk Brothers guitarist who wrote and played the famous opening riff of the Temptations' "My Girl".
- Born
Billmeyer, Pennsylvania- Died
Los Angeles, California
aged 57- Detroit years
- 1960–mid-1970s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
White grew up in small-town Pennsylvania, toured with the Moonglows as a bassist and made Detroit his home in 1960. He first did session work for Anna Records, then became one of Motown's three core studio guitarists alongside Joe Messina and Eddie Willis. Mostly a rhythm player, he stepped forward when a song needed his clean, jazz-shaped tone, most famously the ascending riff that opens the Temptations' "My Girl". He also played on Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is" and "What's Going On", the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour". Wes Montgomery and Oscar Moore were his models. White moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, toured with the Temptations in the 1980s and died after heart surgery in 1994, before the 2002 documentary that finally made the Funk Brothers famous.
Highlights
- Created the guitar intro of "My Girl" (1964)
- One of Motown's three core studio guitarists
- Played on "What's Going On" and "You Keep Me Hangin' On"
- Featured in Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)
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.
Recorded here · 1960s–1972
Motown Museum
Played on Motown sessions in Studio A, the basement room the musicians nicknamed the "Snake Pit".