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<\/p>\nJanie Bradford, the co-writer on Motown\u2019s first hit \u201cMoney (That\u2019s What I Want)\u201d and other songs for the famed Detroit label, has died at the age of 87.<\/p>\n
Bradford\u2019s family announced the songwriter\u2019s death Saturday, adding she died August 21 at Los Angeles\u2019 Cedars-Sinai Hospital following an extended illness.<\/p>\n
Motown founder Berry Gordy said in a statement Saturday, \u201cI\u00a0was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Janie Bradford Hobbs.\u00a0Janie was there with me from the very beginning, before there was even a Motown, and she will always hold a very special place in my heart and in the Motown family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradford was introduced to Gordy by her neighborhood friend Jackie Wilson, who at the time had recorded the Gordy-penned \u201cReet Petite.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJanie was smart, clever, witty, and fun. She was also talented and determined. In those early days, everybody did what was needed to be done, and Janie was no exception. She became Motown\u2019s first receptionist, but her talents quickly took her far beyond that desk,\u201d Gordy added.<\/p>\n
In 1959, Bradford and Gordy co-wrote \u201cMoney (That\u2019s What I Want),\u201d which became Motown\u2019s first hit single when it was recorded by Barrett Strong; four years later, the song was once again a hit thanks to the Beatles, who recorded the song for their 1963 album With the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones laid down their own rendition on their first EP in 1964.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day, as Gordy was working on a song, Bradford joined him by the piano to add her own verse \u2013 \u2018your love gives me such a thrill, but your love don\u2019t pay my bills. Gimme some money baby!\u2019,\u201d the Motown Museum wrote in their tribute to Bradford.<\/p>\n
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During her quarter-century tenure at Motown, Bradford also co-wrote the Marvin Gaye hit \u201cToo Busy Thinking About My Baby,\u201d Mary Wells\u2019 \u201cYour Old Standby,\u201d and songs for Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, the Marvelettes, and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cJanie was one of a special group I have always thought of as the Original Motown Family\u2014The Unsung Heroes who believed in the dream before anyone knew what Motown would become. She was one of the people who helped make Motown what it became,\u201d Gordy added.<\/p>\n
\u201cJanie\u2019s commitment to others did not end with Motown.\u00a0Through her Heroes and Legends Scholarship Fund, which she founded in the 1990s, she spent decades helping\u00a0deserving\u00a0young people pursue their dreams while celebrating so many of the people who helped build our music community.\u00a0Her annual gatherings always felt like old home week because Janie kept that wonderful sense of family alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her family added, \u201cJust recently, Janie was inducted into the Women Songwriter\u2019s Hall of Fame\u00a0and over the years has been awarded numerous\u00a0awards and\u00a0commendations.\u201d<\/p>\n