DETROIT — Al Abrams, the founding press officer and publicist for Motown Records, died Saturday following a battle with cancer, his wife said. He was 74.
Born in Detroit, Al Abrams was the first employee of Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. – before the company officially existed. Abrams promoted records to Detroit disc jockeys and went on to direct media relations at the label that included Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the Miracles and the Supremes.
“His greatest accomplishment at Motown was actually starting at the age of 18,” his wife, Nancy Abrams, told The Associated Press. “It kind of snowballed. He knew what he wanted to do with his life at that point.”
She said her husband died at his home in Findlay, Ohio.
Abrams came up with Motown’s slogan, “The Sound of Young America,” because “he wanted to push diversity” and was “colorblind,” Nancy Abrams said.
She said her husband put that philosophy into practice during a 1960s Motown tour through the southern U.S. She said Smokey Robinson came to visit him in a hotel, where blacks weren’t allowed to stay.
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