Motown's Newest Hit: American Idol
March 20 2009, Published 2:39 p.m. ET
What's old always becomes new again.
Look no further than in Detroit, where the American Idol bandwagon sets up shop as the show readies to commence Motown Week, where the final ten competitors will party and joust with the melodies from the label that produced icons like The Supremes, The Temptations and The Four Tops.
With coaches Smokey Robinson and legendary producer Berry Gordy in tow, all but eight of the top ten were in the Motor City to ready for the upcoming competition (Megan Joy Corkrey and Michael Sarver, still recovering from the flu, stayed behind in Los Angeles), according to the Detroit Free-Press.
Gordy said this season's crop are composed of "charming, beautiful people."
He drew parallels between the old Motown business model to American Idol's format.
"Our theory was that competition breeds champions," Gordy told the paper.