Norman Whitfield (May 12, 1940 – September 16, 2008) – You + Me = Love (1976)

The genius producer who updated the Motown sound for the psychedelic era wrote and produced this disco funk masterpiece for the Undisputed Truth.

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Norman Whitfield was a genius songwriter/producer who brought the funk to Motown and beyond, creating the entire subgenre of psychedelic soul. He co-wrote and produced timeless masterpieces for artists like the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Undisputed Truth, Rose Royce, Nytro, and more, helping create nearly one hundred hit records during his career.

Born and raised in Harlem, Norman Jesse Whitfield’s family moved to Detroit when he was in his late teens. At age 19 he began hanging around Motown’s Hitsville U.S.A. headquarters at 2648 West Grand Boulevard, eager to find a job with the label. As Whitfield told interviewer Denise Hall in 1976:

“I used to go up to Motown to visit – in fact, Berry and them would be trying to put me out all the time, telling me there were no visitors on sessions. But that didn’t put me off at all.”

Eventually Berry Gordy Jr. hired him to work in the quality control department, which was responsible for deciding which songs would be released or shelved.

He then became a staff songwriter, and co-wrote his first hit in 1962, “Pride And Joy” by Marvin Gaye, which was recorded that September, released in April, 1963, and went to #2 R&B and #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Whitfield soon teamed up with songwriter and lyricist Barrett Strong, forming a songwriting partnership that endured for over a decade and gave birth to some of Motown’s biggest hits of all time. See our post from February on the recently departed Strong for more on their collaborations.

In 1966, the two of them co-wrote “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.” Gladys Knight & The Pips released the song first, in September, 1967, and their version became the biggest selling Motown single to date when it hit #1 R&B and #2 Pop. Marvin Gaye’s version appeared on his 1968 LP In The Groove, and was released as a single that October after radio DJ’s started playing the album cut. It eclipsed Gladys Knight’s sales, staying at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks during December 1968 and January 1969.

Also in 1966, Whitfield became the Temptations’ main producer, replacing Smokey Robinson after Whitfield’s production of “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” went to #13 on the pop charts, beating out Robinson’s latest song, “Get Ready” which peaked at #29. Both singles were #1 R&B hits for the Temptations.

He lasted in this role from 1966-74. In 1968, when David Ruffin was fired from the group and replaced by Dennis Edwards, Whitfield crafted a new sound for the Temptations that was influenced by psychedelic rock bands and the groundbreaking funk rock of Sly & the Family Stone, which Temptations member Otis Williams suggested he experiment with for their next record. According to Williams in his 1988 autobiography Temptations, Whitfield initially wanted nothing to do with Sly’s funk.

“Man, I don't want to be bothered with that shit,” Norman said. “That ain't nothin' but a little passing fancy.”

A few weeks later, Whitfield played them the backing tracks had he written for “Cloud Nine,” and told Williams, “So you were right. Let’s go on and make the record.”

Co-written by Whitfield and Strong, “Cloud Nine” hit #2 R&B and #6 Pop, and won that year’s Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental. It was dubbed “psychedelic soul” and was the first in a long line of similar songs he would produce for the group over the next several years.

Whitfield’s attention to detail in the studio was legendary. As Motown arranger Paul Riser, who worked with him on many productions, told Motown historian Adam White:

“We’d start it with eight tracks and he would, of course, lay as much as he could there. He always filled his tracks up [with] guitar overdubs, though his bass thing was pretty much worked out. Mostly guitar stuff, keyboard overdubs and things. He was just a master at mixing. He would know where every little part was, no matter how minute or whichever track. He had it all memorized, like a computer.”

The Undisputed Truth was a group assembled by Whitfield in 1970 while he was producing the Temptations.  Originally they were conceived as a vehicle for him to move even further into psychedelic soul, partly in response to criticism from Temptations fans unhappy with how Whitfield’s production techniques had changed their favorite group’s sound.

After several lineup changes, the Undisputed Truth’s look and music acquired a notable P-Funk influence.  They followed Whitfield when he left Motown in 1975 to start his own label, Whitfield Records.  Method To The Madness was their first non-Motown LP, with cover art featuring a UFO shooting funky energy beams at the group. 

Whitfield wrote and produced the disco funk masterpiece “You + Me = Love,” released in August, 1976 as the first single from Method To The Madness. It became the group’s second-highest charting single ever, only topped by “Smiling Faces Sometimes,” which hit #3 on the pop charts in 1971. The 12” version of “You + Me = Love” stretched out to more than eleven minutes and became a huge disco hit, ending up at #5 on the dance charts. The 7” version reached #37 R&B, #48 on the Billboard Hot 100, and by early 1977 had made it to #43 on the UK Singles Chart.

By 1976, the group’s lineup included Chaka Khan’s younger sister Taka Boom (who sang lead vocals on “You + Me = Love”), founding member Joe “Pep” Harris, and two members who had joined the group in 1974, Calvin “Dhaak” Stevenson and Tyrone “Lil Ty” Barkley.  Both of them had previously been in The Magic Tones, a soul group from Detroit formed in the early sixties by members of the Inkster High School Glee Club.

While it was climbing the charts, “You + Me = Love” was featured on one of Soul Train’s most memorable line dance segments of the 70s.  Inspired by the song’s relentless groove, the show’s dancers busted out complex moves and routines with props including a frying pan, dog leash and oversized bone, and a magician’s tricks.

Musicians on the track included Funk Brother Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin on guitar, and Rose Royce members Michael Nash and Victor Nix on keyboards, plus Lequeint “Duke” Jobe on bass.

Further info:

Temptations, by Otis Williams and Patricia Romanowski, 1988.

“Norman...Is That You?: The Works of Whitfield, and the Promise of a Documentary,” by Adam White, West Grand Blog, August 14, 2020

#soul #funk #disco #Temptations #UndisputedTruth #NormanWhitfield