... was founded (in 1959) as Tamla Records, and incorporated in 1960 as Motown Record Corporation. 'Motown' is famously a shortened version of Motor Town, a nickname for Detroit; 'Tamla' was used to evoke the song Tammy, which was a No. 1 hit in the USA and No. 2 in the UK for Debbie Reynolds in 1957. The song came from the film Tammy and the Bachelor, which starred Reynolds as Tammy (a 17–year–old girl who lives in a houseboat on the Mississippi River with her Grandpa, and falls in love with a young pilot, played by Leslie Nielsen, who crashes nearby – as she would, obviously.)
Berry couldn't call his label Tammy because there was already a Tammy Records.
© Haydn Thompson 2025