Prior to the pandemic, Margena A. Christian knew next to nothing about Detroit songwriter and producer Sylvia Moy, even after covering Motown matters for publications such as Jet and Ebony.
But that changed after 2021, when the Chicago-based writer saw an online post that included a photo of Moy with Stevie Wonder and members of Motown’s Funk Brothers studio band. That piqued Christian’s interest and led to her new book, “It’s No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown’s Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy” (Da Capo) — an unauthorized biography that’s causing conflict between Christian and the Moy family.
“Her face stood out to me because she reminded me of my younger niece,” Christian says, “so her beauty was captivating, and I felt like she was trying to say something in that photograph. So I started digging in to find her story and was amazed. She was the first female songwriter and producer at Motown. What?! I had never heard of this woman before. Why didn’t we know about her?”
As Christian discovers and documents in “It’s No Wonder,” Moy’s is one of Motown’s great untold or under-told stories.
The Northern High School graduate, one of eight children raised on Detroit’s northeast side, joined Motown Records in 1964 as a writer, after unsuccessfully breaking in as an artist and composer in New York City. Discovered by Marvin Gaye and Motown executive William “Mickey” Stevenson when she was performing at the Caucus Club in downtown Detroit, Moy was pushed to make songwriting her primary task because Motown needed songs for the artists it already had more than it needed to add another to its roster.
Moy — who died in 2017 in Dearborn at the age of 78 — struggled for a while, but hit big by saving Wonder’s career, when he was about to be dropped, by co-writing 1965’s Top 5 “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” with Wonder and her mentor, Henry “Hank” Cosby. Moy would go on to collaborate on other hits for Wonder (“My Cherie Amour,” “I Was Made to Love Her”) as well as “It Takes Two” for Gaye and Kim Weston, “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)” for the Isley Brothers, and singles for Martha and the Vandellas.
Moy was inducted, with Cosby, into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006, but has not received the same kind of attention over the years as Motown brethren such as Holland-Dozier-Holland, Norman Whitfield, Smokey Robinson or even company founder Berry Gordy Jr. “I started digging in to tell her story,” Christian says, and with “It’s No Wonder” she found more than she could have expected.
“She was given the title of the first female producer (at Motown), but there wasn’t any trace of anything that she produced,” Christian says. “Her name isn’t listed on anything. She was the first female to do both (write and produce). She did produce, but never got credit for it. I set out to find the truth, and it was quite fascinating.”
Her research included interviews with Moy’s family members, Stevenson, Robinson, Cosby’s widow and fellow Motown staffer Patricia, Martha Reeves, Motown writers Eddie Holland and Barrett Strong, song arranger Paul Riser Sr. and Louvain Demps of the Motown vocal group the Andantes. Gordy and Wonder, meanwhile, proved elusive, so Christian had to make do with their printed and recorded comments about Moy.
The Moy family, however, is alleging that Christian has reneged on a 2023 written agreement that secured their participation, including portraying Moy in a positive light and compensating the family for participating. Celeste Moy, a veteran music business attorney based in Virginia and the sister of the book’s focus, says the family also cleared the way for others to speak with the author.
“(Christian) told us, ‘I want to do an authorized biography, not just about her Motown life, but her entire life and her legacy,’” says Moy, who, along with her brother, Christopher, manages the Estate of Sylvia Moy LLC.
Christian did not have a publishing deal at the time, Moy adds, “so we hired a lawyer … to negotiate an agreement with her for us to participate as major contributors.”
Moy says the family, which provided photos for the book, was never notified about the publishing deal and was not given a review of the manuscript and did not see the book until less than two weeks before publication. Moy said Christian also stopped communicating with the family.
“That was such a blow because we treated her like she was almost a part of the family,” Moy says. “There are things nobody knows, nobody had access to but us … and photos that were not in the public domain. So we feel terribly betrayed.”
Moy said the family is trying to resolve the issues without taking legal action, but is “willing to go there if necessary. … Until this dispute is resolved, we are not supporting or promoting this book.”
In response, Christian denies any wrongdoing.
“I did nothing wrong,” she said. “My attorney and the publishing house had everything taken care of, and these are baseless claims that were addressed.”
Through her research, Christian said, everything she learned convinced her that Moy was a victim of company patriarchy and chauvinism, and a practice — not uncommon in the music industry, then and even now — of executives pulling rank over how credit — and therefore, royalties — was assigned for songs and other work. Semantics, Christian says, played a significant part in that, and the tasks that defined “producing” a song were often loosely defined and shifted.
When Christian spoke to Stevenson, for instance: “In his mind, (Moy) wasn’t a producer. In the book, there were other men who said the same thing; she wasn’t a producer, and they never saw her as such. It’s interesting how all of it unfolded. … But the end result is she didn’t get (the credit) she was due.” In her research, Christian also found indications that Moy also contributed to Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” and the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” without receiving any kind of credit.
“I had to dig and dig and dig,” Christian says, “and when I found evidence … it’s there for everyone to see, and decide.”
The author acknowledges, too, that Moy did not help her own cause during her days with Motown.
“She was a very quiet, private woman,” Christian explains. “She played the game, and she knew how to play the game, and it worked. If she had been pushy or talked back or bad-mouthed … she wouldn’t have made it as far as she did.” And for Christian, the insights provided an unexpected, deep relationship with Moy, despite her absence.
“We didn’t meet in the physical world, but spiritually, she was always there by my side, every step of the way,” says Christian, whose next book is inspired by her journey through ovarian cancer. “I am a deeply spiritual person, and I do believe that people, when they make their transition, can speak to us. So spiritually, I met her, and I liked her. Almost every night, 3 a.m. to 5:30 a.m., we wrote, and I could feel her guiding me and helping me and … point me to the right person to speak to.
“That’s how I was able to find out what she did as a producer. So she was there with me from the beginning to the end, and now I’m about to share her story with the world.”
“It’s No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown’s Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy” (Da Capo) will be published on Tuesday, Feb. 10. For more information, visit dacapopress.com.
