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Founding Fathers: Mickey Stevenson

Founding Fathers
9/12/2011
2:00 pm

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Filed Under: Four Tops, Four Tops, Kim Weston, Mickey Stevenson, Motown, Supremes

The Four Tops Sing Mickey Stevenson's "Ask the Lonely" (YouTube)

Though he was just a moderate success as a performer, Mickey Stevenson was an influential A&R man, songwriter and producer during the golden years of Motown.

Mickey Stevenson signed on with Motown in 1959 and worked as an A&R man, producer and songwriter through 1967 when he and his wife, Kim Weston, moved to MGM Records.

During his time with Motown, Stevenson established the label’s legendary house band, the Funk Brothers, and ran the company’s A&R department when the imprint was turning out hits by the Temptations, Four Tops and the Supremes.

An accomplished songwriter, he co-wrote with Ivory Jo Hunter some of Motown’s biggest hits: “Dancing in the Street” and “Stubborn Kind of Fellow,” to name two. He also co-wrote “Devil With the Blue Dress On” with Shorty Long and, with Hunter, the Four Tops’ “Ask the Lonely.”