Harvey Fuqua
| Harvey Fuqua | |
|---|---|
Fuqua in 2000
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Harvey Fuqua |
| Born |
July 27, 1929 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | July 6, 2010 (aged 80) Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, doo-wop, soul |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, record producer, record label executive |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1951–2000 |
| Labels | Chess, Motown (Tamla-Motown), RCA, Fantasy |
| Associated acts | The Moonglows, Etta James, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell, Spinners, Johnny Bristol, New Birth, Sylvester, etc. |
Harvey Fuqua (July 27, 1929 – July 6, 2010) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer, songwriter, record producer, and record label executive.
Fuqua founded the seminal R&B/doo-wop group the Moonglows in the 1950s. He is notable as one of the key figures in the development of the Motown label in Detroit, Michigan. His group gave Marvin Gaye a start in his music career. Fuqua and his wife at the time, Gwen Gordy, distributed the first Motown hit single, Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)", on their record label, Anna Records. Fuqua later sold Anna Records to Gwen's brother Berry Gordy and became a songwriter and executive at Motown. He was the nephew of Charlie Fuqua of the Ink Spots and the uncle of the filmmaker Antoine Fuqua.
Fuqua was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He was the nephew of Charlie Fuqua of the Ink Spots. In 1951, with Bobby Lester, Alexander Graves and Prentiss Barnes, he formed a vocal group, the Crazy Sounds, in Louisville, later moving with other members of the group to Cleveland, Ohio. There they were taken under the wing of disc jockey Alan Freed, who renamed them the Moonglows, after his own nickname, Moondog". The Moonglows' first releases were for Freed's Champagne label in 1953. They then recorded for the Chance label in Chicago, before signing with Chess Records in 1954. Their single "Sincerely" reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 20 on the Hot 100 in late 1954.
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