Anna Records was a short-lived record label, known as a forerunner of Motown, founded by sisters Anna

Anna Gordy Gaye

Anna Gordy Gaye is an American songwriter and composer, known as the elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy and the first wife of soul legend Marvin Gaye, who used their troubled marriage as the focal point of his critically acclaimed 1978 effort, Here, My Dear, an album from which Gordy...

 and Gwen Gordy

Gwen Gordy Fuqua

Gwen Gordy Fuqua was the elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, sister of Motown songwriters Anna Gordy Gaye, Robert Gordy and George Gordy, sister of Motown Museum founder Esther Gordy Edwards, sister of Fuller Gordy and also Loucye Gordy, and the former wife of Harvey Fuqua...

 and Roquel Billy Davis in 1959 and located in Detroit, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. Gwen Gordy and Davis had written hit songs for Jackie Wilson

Jackie Wilson

Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr. was an American singer and performer. Known as "Mr. Excitement", Wilson was important in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was known as a master showman, and as one of the most dynamic singers and performers in R&B and rock history...

 and Etta James

Etta James

Etta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...

 prior to founding the label. Anna Records recorded acts like David Ruffin

David Ruffin

Davis Eli "David" Ruffin was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968...

, future lead singer of The Temptations

The Temptations

The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...

, Joe Tex

Joe Tex

Joseph Arrington, Jr. , better known as "Joe Tex", was an American Southern soul singer-songwriter, most popular during the 1960s and 1970s...

, Herman Griffin, Johnny Bristol

Johnny Bristol

Johnny Bristol , was an American musician, most famous as a songwriter and record producer for the Motown label in the late 1960s and early 1970s...

 and his partner Jackey Beavers (the original duo behind the Supremes' "Someday We'll Be Together

Someday We'll Be Together

"Someday We'll Be Together" is a song made popular as the last of twelve number-one singles for Diana Ross & the Supremes on the Motown label. It is the final Supremes song featuring Diana Ross, who left the group for a solo career in January 1970...

"), and future Motown hit-making songwriter-producer Lamont Dozier

Lamont Dozier

Lamont Herbert Dozier is an American songwriter and record producer, born in Detroit, Michigan. Dozier has either co-written or produced several US Billboard #1 hits.-Career:...

 (who went by the name Lamont Anthony at the time). They hired future Motown star Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

 as drummer for the label.

Anna Records is most notable for issuing the first national Motown hit, "Money (That's What I Want)

Money (That's What I Want)

"Money " is a 1959 hit single by Barrett Strong for the Tamla label, distributed nationally on Anna Records. The song was written by Tamla founder Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford, and became the first hit record for Gordy's Motown enterprise....

", recorded by singer-songwriter Barrett Strong

Barrett Strong

Barrett Strong is an American singer and songwriter. Strong was the first artist to record a hit for Motown, although he is best remembered for his work as a songwriter, particularly in association with producer Norman Whitfield.-His career:Strong was among the first artists signed to Berry...

, which hit number two on the R&B chart in early 1960. The label wasn't so successful afterwards and in 1961 Anna and all its artists were absorbed by Gwen and Anna's brother Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...

 into Motown. Gaye, in particular, became a solo artist and signed with the corporation's oldest label Tamla while still serving as a session drummer, and Ruffin later joined The Temptations

The Temptations

The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...

, having signed a separate contract with the Gordy subsidiary just prior to signing with Anna. Ruffin's brother Jimmy

Jimmy Ruffin

Jimmy Ruffin is an American soul singer, and elder brother of the late David Ruffin of The Temptations. He had several hit records between the 1960s and 1980s, the most successful being "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted."-Life:...

 also briefly recorded for the label.

After the label wound up, Anna Gordy joined Motown's staff writing team and Gwen later separated from Davis, going on to form a partnership with singer Harvey Fuqua

Harvey Fuqua

Harvey Fuqua, was an African-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...

, whom she married. The couple later formed Harvey Records and Tri-Phi Records. Both labels were also absorbed by Motown in 1963. Gwen and Harvey later joined the Motown songwriting staff. Davis found success as a staff songwriter for Chess Records

Chess Records

Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....

 shortly after Etta James released his co-composition, "All I Could Do Was Cry

All I Could Do Was Cry

"All I Could Do Was Cry" is a doo-wop/rhythm and blues single recorded in 1960 and released that same year by singer Etta James and was written for James by Chess songwriter Billy Davis, Berry Gordy and his sister Gwen Gordy. The song was said to be inspired by James' former boyfriend Harvey Fuqua...

".

See also

• List of record labels
• Motown Records
• Gordy family
  Gordy family
  The Gordys are an African-American family of businesspeople and music industry executives born to Georgia-reared parents Berry "Pops" Gordy, Sr. and Bertha Fuller Gordy and raised in Detroit, where a majority of the siblings had a pivotal role in the international acceptance of rhythm and blues...