Singer/songwriter Barrett Strong has died

January 30, 2023

Motown singer/songwriter Barrett Strong has died at age 81. He sang “Money (That’s What I Want)” in its original 1959 recording, before it was covered by the Beatles with John Lennon singing lead. (Listen to the versions by Barrett Strong and the Beatles at those YouTube links.)

Barrett Strong in 2019. Photo by Dan MacMedan, USA Today Network.

Strong co-wrote numerous songs with Motown producer Norman Whitfield, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (which was originally recorded in 1967 by Marvin Gaye even though his version wasn’t the first to be released) and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” (recorded by the Temptations, 1972).

“I Heard It Through the Grapevine” started when Strong was walking on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and thought about how people often say that phrase. It’s unclear if he knew that the term “grapevine” was connected to the days of slavery, when enslaved people weren’t allowed to learn to read or use telegrams, so the only way they could pass around news was talking to each other directly. I like the image of Strong appearing on the surface to be simply an ordinary person walking down the street, while in his mind he was mulling over a common sentence, possibly repeating it over and over in a simple two-note melody imitating speech, and through that possibly obsessive repetition, it eventually transformed into a thing of greatness …