Janie Bradford Hobbs, a Motown songwriter, record executive, poet, and education advocate, has died. Per her family, Bradford passed away at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles, after an extended illness. She was 87.
Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown, has released a statement. “I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Janie Bradford Hobbs. Janie 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.”
“Janie 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’s first receptionist, but her talents quickly took her far beyond that desk.”
Bradford was born on June 2, 1939, in Charleston, Missouri. She was interested in writing from a young age and was inspired when her idol, poet Robert Frost, visited her high school. She moved to Detroit and lived with her sister, singer Clea Ethel. Their neighborhood friend, Jackie Wilson, had just hit the charts with his first solo single, the 1957 party anthem “Reet Petite.” Wilson invited her to meet the song’s writer, Gordy. She gave him a collection of her poetry and the two became friends and collaborators.
Together, Bradford and Gordy wrote “Money (That’s What I Want),” one of Motown’s first big hits, recorded in 1959 by Barrett Strong and later by the Beatles and many others. She held a variety of positions during her 20 years with Motown, moving up to the head of Writer Relations. Along the way, she co-wrote “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby,” a top 10 hit on Marvin Gaye, and wrote songs recorded by artists like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Temptations, Four Tops, Miracles, Martha & The Vandellas, and more.
“Janie was one of a special group I have always thought of as the Original Motown Family—The Unsung Heroes who believed in the dream before anyone knew what Motown would become,” Gordy said in his statement. “She was one of the people who helped make Motown what it became.”
In the 1990s, Bradford founded the Heroes and Legends Scholarship Fund, an annual event honoring music icons and raising scholarship funds for students to pursue higher education. In June, she was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.
She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Wardean Hobbs; son, Lance Finney and daughter-in-law, Carolyn; daughter, Nicole Hobbs; two grandsons, Bradford and Austin and a host of other family members, friends and Motown family who loved her dearly.
