Norman Whitfield - who died Tuesday - wasn't as well known as fellow Motown songwriters Smokey Robinson or the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. But the Motown sound would be unthinkable without Mr. Whitfield's creations, which include "Ball of Confusion" and "I Heard it through the Grapevine." Here's an interesting obit in the Los Angeles Times in which Dallas native David Ritz explains how Motown originally didn't want Marvin Gaye's version of "Grapevine" to come out.
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