Kerry Gordy

Early years

Kerry Gordy was born in Detroit, Michigan, to multi-instrumentalist, Motown songwriter and arranger, Raynoma Mayberry and Berry Gordy. He was born the same year that his father founded Motown Records on West Grand Boulevard which housed the Hitsville U.S.A./Motown recording studios.

Kerry Gordy's mother, was a child prodigy in music and played eleven instruments. She orchestrated the early arrangements for Motown. Gordy lived with his mother until the age of 13, at which point he began to live full-time with his father.

In 1972, Kerry Gordy moved to Los Angeles, California. with his father and became one of his protégés, along with best friend and business partner, Benny Medina.

Kerry Gordy and Benny Medina met during their time at Beverly Hills High School, during which time, Medina came to live at the Gordy estate. Together, they wrote arranged and produced records for Motown and also founded the teen band, Apollo. Teena Marie was an original member of the band as the groups female lead. Teena later dropped out of the band before the release of their first single, "Astro Disco" in 1979.

In the early 80s Kerry Gordy acted in various commercials, T.V. shows and movies under the name Kerry Ashby, and in 1990, participated as a judge in the Miss USA Pageant.

Early professional career

Kerry Gordy's career began in 1973 working in the Motown Records mailroom. The early years of his career were spent in various administrative and creative capacities. In order for Gordy to separate himself at Motown from his father Berry, he dropped his surname and began using the name Kerry Ashby professionally.

In 1984, as an A&R representative for Motown, Kerry Gordy was instrumental in signing Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me", which became a hit for Motown and Gordy's first hit. He was then promoted to the position of Director of A&R, where he worked on projects with Gold and Platinum artists such as The Temptations, the Four Tops, Rick James and Billy Preston. He also worked on compilation albums for Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. He became a senior executive for The Gordy Company (his father's company after selling Motown in 1988) where he was responsible for supervising business affairs, A&R, product development, administration and personnel.

Between 1991 and 1993 Gordy consulted Al Bell's independently distributed label, Bellmark Records. This union culminated with $26 million in sales and yielded the year's biggest international hit, "Whoomp! (There It Is)" by the group Tag Team.

In 1993, Kerry Gordy became the vice president of two divisions for Paisley Park Records, A&R and artist development, (a joint venture between Time-Warner and Prince). That same year, Gordy produced and co-wrote George Clinton's comeback hit "Paint the White House Black" collaborating with artists Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Public Enemy, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The following year, he orchestrated a joint venture between Prince's N.P.G. label and Bellmark Records. This union yielded the hit "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World".

Kerry Gordy served as vice president of A&R for Warner Bros. Records Black Music Division, where in 1995 the R.I.A.A. (Recording Industry Association of America) awarded him with gold records on Zapp and Roger's All the Greatest Hits and Prince's Come Album. His production of Belize's "I’m Looking Out For You" was the theme song for Real Stories of the Highway Patrol. Gordy also managed Rick James, who sold in excess of $25 million records and grossed over $40 million in concert revenue, from 1996 until his death in 2004.

Entertainment consulting, IP and other ventures

In 1997, Kerry Gordy negotiated and obtained a three-act production deal with Interscope Records joint venture partner B-Rite Records. The first release from that venture (Gospel Gangstaz) enjoyed success, reaching number three on Billboards Gospel album chart and was also nominated for a Grammy Award. Between 1998 and 2001 Kerry Gordy was awarded Gold, Platinum, Double Platinum, and Triple Platinum sales awards by the R.I.A.A. in commemoration of licensing Rick James', controlled compositions, Salt n Pepa's Brand New Project, Erykah Badu's Live Project and Mary J. Blige's Share my World and My Life projects respectively. He has over 20 Gold and Platinum records and 1 Diamond record.

In 1998, Kerry Gordy partnered with Gordon Bizar under the name Gordy-Bizar to securitize artists' and publishers' royalties. Financing deals were signed with Alice Walton's investment banking firm Llama Company as well as Lehman Brothers.

In 2003, Kerry Gordy signed a deal with Clear Channel Entertainment to produce his company's first theatrical venture, “Hear No Evil.” He also signed a worldwide deal with the William Morris Agency to be represented in that arena.

In 2004, Kerry Gordy co-founded Siebers Style with Debbie Siebers who earlier that year struck a deal with BEACHBODY to sell the “Debbie Siebers Slim in 6” rapid weight loss program which grossed an excess of $250 million for Beach Body. Siebers later became the fitness expert on the reality show The Swan on Fox TV. Gordy negotiated two book deals for Siebers with Silverback Publishing entitled Energy Boost and Nutritional Makeover.

In 2007, Kerry Gordy founded Kerry Gordy Enterprises, LLC., an intellectual property and branding company focused on entertainment. He also closed a seven-figure publishing deal for his long-time client, partner, and friend, Bruce Fisher (Writer of several number one hits including the standard "You Are So Beautiful") with Evergreen Publishing.

In recent years, Kerry Gordy has entered into a deal to produce The Last Dragon for Sony Pictures with John Davis, who has produced over 90 feature films that have earned over $4.8 Billion at the box office worldwide to date. He also entered into a partnership with entertainment mogul Ted Field and Radar Pictures in an intellectual property joint venture.

Family

The fourth eldest child of Berry Gordy, Gordy's paternal half-siblings are:

Hazel Joy Gordy

Berry Gordy IV

Terry James Gordy

Sherry Gordy

Kennedy William Gordy (known as Rockwell)

Rhonda Suzanne Gordy-Silberstein

Stefan Kendal Gordy (Redfoo of LMFAO)

Kerry Gordy has one daughter.