A History of Motown returns with new stories and even bigger hits

Krystle Dos Santos and band perform Motown hits at the Firehall Aug. 19-29.  Photo by Ben Parker

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A History of Motown

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When: Aug. 19-29
Where: Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E. Cordova St., Vancouver
Tickets: From $40 at firehallartscentre.ca and 604-689-0926

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There’s a little-known Canadian connection to Motown, and it’s one that singer Krystle Dos Santos highlights in her show A History of Motown.

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In 1968, the Vancouver band Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers signed to the Detroit-based company. The group, which included Tommy Chong, had a top 30 hit, Does Your Mama Know About Me. And, Dos Santos says, “There’s an alternate story to Diana Ross discovering the Jackson Five — that it’s Bobby Taylor who discovered them while on tour in Chicago in 1968.”

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A mix of storytelling and music, A History of Motown began as a way to educate kids about the industry-changing hit factory out of Detroit. Last April, then again in August, Dos Santos and her six-piece band took the show from school gyms to the Firehall Arts Centre stage.

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For the theatre, she expanded the show into two sets. “The first was about setting the stage: What’s Motown? When was it? Where was it? Who were the players involved? And the second set was more of a dance party, opening it up to the hits.”

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For the second Firehall run, she began taking a deeper dive into the stories of Motown artists like Diana Ross. For the upcoming series of shows, she’s adding a segment that looks at the post-Motown careers of icons like Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

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This will give her opportunity to perform songs like Jackson’s Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, Billie Jean, and possibly Beat It, and Ross’s post-Supremes version of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.

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The show is comprised mostly of well-known Motown hits, with one or two exceptions.

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“One of my all-time favourite songs is If I Were Your Woman by Gladys Knight & the Pips, from when they were still signed to Motown. It’s such a beautiful arc for a performer to dig into. I absolutely love singing that song.”

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Considering its cultural impact, Motown had a fairly short run.

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“They started in 1959, probably got traction around 1960 or ’61, and by ‘71 it was the disco era. They continued, but when we think of the Motown era, we don’t think of Boyz II Men as Motown, even though they were. That classic Motown sound probably only happened over about a decade.”

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Despite the jump to theatres, she still brings the gospel of Motown to elementary and high school students. Most have no idea what she’s talking about, at least at first.

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“I start by asking, “Does anybody know Motown?” and they’re like, “No.” By the time we get to the Jackson Five, they’re singing. My Girl is another one everybody knows.”

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Firehall audiences are a different story.

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“Theatre audiences generally tend to be an older audience, and then you get a huge cross-section of other people coming through in sprinkles. What’s great is that many people have personal connection stories. They’re from Ontario, which is near Detroit, or they met Bobby Taylor, or they’ve been listening to this music their whole lives.”

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Or, as in one case, they used to play with Marvin Gaye.