Margena A. Christian hoped to shine a light on an under-appreciated artist with the just-published It’s No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown’s Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy (Da Capo). But things have gotten a little more uptight than alright with Moy’s family.
Moy, a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee who died in 2017 at the age of 78 in her native Detroit, joined Motown in 1964 and is best known for saving Stevie Wonder’s then-flagging career by co-writing “Uptight (Everything’s Alright),” which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. Moy also collaborated on other Hot 100 top 5 hits for Wonder (“My Cherie Amour,” “I Was Made to Love Her”) as well as “It Takes Two” for Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston (a Hot 100 top 20 hit), “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)” for the Isley Brothers, and singles for Martha and the Vandellas.
In her research Christian also found evidence that Moy worked as a producer as well as a writer, but never received proper credit from Motown’s patriarchy. The book claims that she contributed to other songs — Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” and the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” — also without citation.
“She was the first female to do both [write and produce]; she did produce but never got credit for it,” Christian, a Chicago-based writer who worked for Jet and Ebony, tells Billboard. She didn’t know much about Moy prior but became interested in her story during the pandemic, when she came upon a photo of Moy with Stevie Wonder and members of Motown’s Funk Brothers studio band. “I started digging in to find her story and was amazed. I had never heard of this woman before. Why didn’t we know about her? I set out to find the truth, and it was quite fascinating. I had to dig and dig and dig and when I found evidence…it’s there for everyone to see, and decide.”
Christian interviewed Motown figures such as Mickey Stevenson, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, Patricia Cosby (widow of Moy’s frequent songwriting partner Hank Cosby), songwriters Eddie Holland and Barrett Strong, song arranger Paul Riser Sr. and Louvain Demps of the Motown vocal group the Andantes. Christian also had the cooperation of Moy’s family, but an ongoing schism developed during lead-up to It’s No Wonder‘s publication.
According to Celeste Moy, a veteran music industry attorney and co-manager of the Estate of Sylvia Moy LLC, the family entered into a written agreement with Christian during 2023, before a publishing deal was signed, that secured its participation — including opening doors with some of the other Motown folks. Terms included portraying Moy in a positive light and compensating the family for its assistance. Moy claims that Christian reneged on the deal, however.
“(Christian) told us, ‘I want to do an authorized biography, not just about her Motown life but her entire life and her legacy,’” Moy says. “So we hired a lawyer…to negotiate an agreement with her for us to participate as major contributors.” Moy says the family, which also provided photos, was never notified about the publishing deal and was not given review of the manuscript, and it did not see the book until less than two weeks before publication. Christian, she adds, also stopped communicating with the family.
“That was such a blow because we treated her like she was almost a part of the family,” Moy says. “There are things nobody knows, nobody had access to but us…and photos that were not in the public domain. So we feel terribly betrayed.” She adds that the family, which did not seek an injunction to stop the book from being published, is trying to resolve the issues without going to court but is “willing to go there if necessary…. Until this dispute is resolved we are not supporting or promoting this book.”
In response, Christian says, “I did nothing wrong. My attorney and the publishing house had everything taken care of, and these are baseless claims that were addressed.” John Kendall, her Chicago-based attorney, adds that the family was paid “more than” $2,200 for the use of photos, and that an advance read of the book was not stipulated in the agreement. Other compensation terms were unspecified, he says, and would be considered on the back end, once the book had been published and was selling.
“They had no legal standing for any of the assertions they were making,” Kendall says. “It’s not logical and makes no sense for them to attack her the way they have when she’s done nothing but be upfront. If they do anything (legally) we’re prepared to respond, as I’ve already done with their attorney, point by point. Ms. Christian has, and she remains trying to take the high road on this because she doesn’t want to get anything stuck. The only thing she wants shine from this is Sylvia Moy, because of the accomplishments she made as a woman. That’s her focus.”
Da Capo Press
