Larry Maxwell

Larry Maxwell was the man who took Gladys Knight And The Pips to Motown, after their several sides for his own label, Maxx Records and Maxx Music, publishing. That Knight objected to joining Berry Gordy’s business, but then deferred to the group’s majority vote, is common knowledge. Less familiar is that Maxwell had more skin in the game: he was offered a job at Motown at the same time, as its national promotion manager, no less. The news surfaced in the trade press while Gladys and the guys were navigating the cramped quarters of Studio A.
With years of experience in the music industry, Maxwell may even have been more attractive to Motown in 1966 than the group he brought in. He had previously been employed by Atlantic Records, which understood a thing or two about R&B crossovers, and he also worked for the Riverside Records label in 1962 when it made a new signing: the Four Tops. Larry knew just about every important black disc jockey in the country, and was active in their trade body, the National Association of Radio Announcers. By the time Maxwell’s promotional clout finally delivered for Gladys & the Pips with “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” he was also a career coach at Motown’s artist development arm, ITMI, managing the Tops, Marvin Gaye and others.