
United Sound Systems is a
recording studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...
and locally designated
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...
in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
,
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
, United States. Many popular music artists over the last seventy years have recorded at the facility, including blues musicians like
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...
(he recorded "
Boogie Chillen'
"Boogie Chillen'" or "Boogie Chillun" is a blues song first recorded by John Lee Hooker in 1948. It is a solo performance featuring Hooker's vocal, electric guitar, and rhythmic foot stomps. The lyrics are partly autobiographical and alternate ...
" there in 1948), and funk bands like
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...
. The studio was also the site of the first recording for
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and i ...
's Tamla label in 1959, starting what would become
Motown Records
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
. The building is threatened by a planned highway service drive expansion by the
Michigan Department of Transportation
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is a constitutional government principal department of the US state of Michigan. The primary purpose of MDOT is to maintain the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System which includes all Interst ...
. The studio ownership changed in 2009 and eventually reopened in 2014. It was designated a local historic district by the City of Detroit in 2015.
Others who have recorded at the studio include
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...
,
Johnnie Ray
John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...
,
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...
,
Bob Seger
Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throu ...
,
Jackie Wilson
Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984) was an American singer who was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. Nicknamed "Mr. Excitement", he was considered a master showman and one of th ...
,
Dan Schafer and
Alberta Adams.
History
There is currently a debate within collector forums and Detroit music historians about the origins of United. The issues revolve around when the first Cass location for the studio began and when it moved to the current location at 5840 Second Avenue. Regardless, it was listed at the current Second Avenue location by 1943.
The historical marker says that
James Siracuse converted the current location to a recording studio in 1939. The house it is located in was built in 1916. The 1946
Inter-racial Goodwill Program was recorded here.
In March 2014, ''
The Detroit News
''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...
'' reported that:
"M-DOT spokesman Rob Morosi said they DOTmet with Scott last summer, and had 'a good conversation' about various options on the table. One of those options, he confirms, would be moving the studio from its location on Second at Antoinette. 'We’re waiting to hear back from them,' Morosi said Monday. (Scott says she’s exploring her options, but moving the large house and back studio is not what she favors.)"
Later in March, the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
reported that the Detroit City Council "will refer the United Sound Systems Recording Studio matter to a historic designation advisory board for study." The National Park Service conducted a study of the site and the
Blue Bird Inn in 2019 but found they were not suitable to be an affiliated area of the national park system.
Selected recordings
References
External links
* http://unitedsoundsystemsrecordingstudios.com/
{{Coord, 42.36235, -83.07236, type:landmark_region:US-MI, display=title
Buildings and structures in Detroit
Recording studios in the United States
Motown