Janie Bradford, Motown Songwriter, Dead at 87

Janie Bradford, the co-writer on Motown’s first hit “Money (That’s What I Want)” and other songs for the famed Detroit label, has died at the age of 87.

Bradford’s family announced the songwriter’s death Saturday, adding she died August 21 at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Hospital following an extended illness.

Motown founder Berry Gordy said in a statement Saturday, “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.”

Bradford was introduced to Gordy by her neighborhood friend Jackie Wilson, who at the time had recorded the Gordy-penned “Reet Petite.”

“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,” Gordy added.

In 1959, Bradford and Gordy co-wrote “Money (That’s What I Want),” which became Motown’s 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.

“One day, as Gordy was working on a song, Bradford joined him by the piano to add her own verse – ‘your love gives me such a thrill, but your love don’t pay my bills. Gimme some money baby!’,” the Motown Museum wrote in their tribute to Bradford.

During her quarter-century tenure at Motown, Bradford also co-wrote the Marvin Gaye hit “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby,” Mary Wells’ “Your Old Standby,” and songs for Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, the Marvelettes, 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. She was one of the people who helped make Motown what it became,” Gordy added.

“Janie’s commitment to others did not end with Motown. Through her Heroes and Legends Scholarship Fund, which she founded in the 1990s, she spent decades helping deserving young people pursue their dreams while celebrating so many of the people who helped build our music community. Her annual gatherings always felt like old home week because Janie kept that wonderful sense of family alive.”

Her family added, “Just recently, Janie was inducted into the Women Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and over the years has been awarded numerous awards and commendations.”