Ric-Tic, the famous Detroit label, the most biting competitor for Motown, the small label which annoyed Berry Gordy very much. Remember, we were talking about that last year about Edwin Starr.
Formed in 1962 by Joanne Bratton and Ed Wingate and called Ric-Tic in homage to Joanne Bratton’s son, Ricky, who died at the age of 11 in 1962. The label quickly established itself as a benchmark for soul music in Detroit, so much so that Berry Gordy, very unhappy with the success of Ric-Tic, offered a staggering sum to buy the artists and sign them to Motown. It is estimated that Berry Gordy offered, at the time, 1 million dollars to sign some hypothetical defectors. And Ric-Tic will eventually be absorbed by Motown. Among the house artists, let’s mention The Fantastic Four and The Detroit Emeralds, Freddy Gorman (future Motown), JJ Barnes, Edwin Starr, the hit machine of the Ric-Tic label, Rose Batiste, and so on…