Course Description

Instructor: Tom Dell

Berry Gordy, Jr., and the founding of Motown. Gordy was the impetus behind the phenomenal growth of the Detroit based recording business. Was he a man driven by the desire for money and willing to do anything to get it or was he the patron saint of the Detroit music business who set many people on the path to money and fame? Join the conversation and find out how “Hitsville” became an American music icon and who got helped and who got hurt.

Bio: 

My interest in Rock and Roll and music in general began in Atlanta in 1957 when I got my Stella four string guitar. Bands I was in played many high schools and colleges in the Southeast, along the East coast and we played clubs in Florida, Atlanta and New York.

I still get together regularly with men I have been working with for more than 50 years and we have played at all four Oakhurst "Porch Fests". I have been presenting my courses at Emory OLLI for the past four years. I also present at Central Dekalb Senior Center and Brenau Univ.

I graduated from Georgia State University earning a BBA after serving six years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. My working career involved being a working musician, owning and operating a retail stereo equipment store, industrial sales of digital and fiber optic telephony hardware to the various operating telephone companies, sales management at the vice-president level, and building a functioning marketing department for a fiber optic equipment manufacturer.

Since retiring in 2013, I have enjoyed developing and delivering a series of courses for senior citizens involving the origins of Rock and Roll, playing in a rock and roll band, serving as a board member of the Grady High School Foundation, and watching our grandchildren (28, 10, and 9) grow into beautiful people. We have two daughters, one son-in-law, and one grandson-in-law. The daughters are beautiful and talented, and the son-in-law is a keeper. The grandson-in-law looks like he may qualify as a keeper as well.