Founding Motown artist Barrett Strong, who collaborated on classic songs such as I Heard It Through The Grapevine and Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone, has died at the age of 81.
Strong’s death was confirmed by the Motown Museum in a series of tweets paying tribute to his prolific career.
“Barrett was not only a great singer and piano player, but he, along with his writing partner Norman Whitfield, created an incredible body of work,” Motown founder Berry Gordy said in a statement. No further details have been released.
Strong was the pianist and lead singer on Motown Records’ breakthrough hit Money (That’s What I Want), released early in 1960 and later covered by artists including The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
It came less than a year after he agreed to let his friend Gordy – then in the early days of building his recording empire in Detroit – manage him and release his music.
While he never again approached the success of Money on his own – and the song ironically led to arguments over money as he fought for acknowledgement as a co-writer – with Whitfield he formed a productive and eclectic songwriting team.
Amy Winehouse to Bruce Springsteen – the artists who covered Strong’s work
I Heard It Through The Grapevine was first recorded by Gladys Knight And The Pips in 1966, and Marvin Gaye’s release two years later became one of the label’s biggest sellers of all time. The track has been covered numerous times, by everyone from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Amy Winehouse, and also charted again in the 1980s thanks to being featured in the famous Levi’s Launderette advert.
The Barrett-Whitfield partnership also wrote Cloud Nine and Psychedelic Shack for The Temptations, as well as the protest anthem War – with its famous refrain: “War! What is it good for? Absolutely… nothing!” – for Edwin Starr.
Advertisement
“With War, I had a cousin who was a paratrooper that got hurt pretty bad in Vietnam,” Strong told LA Weekly in 1999. “I also knew a guy who used to sing with (Motown songwriter) Lamont Dozier that got hit by shrapnel and was crippled for life. You talk about these things with your families when you’re sitting at home, and it inspires you to say something about it.”
His other hits with Whitfield, who died in 2008, included I Can’t Get Next To You, That’s The Way Love Is, and the Grammy-winning chart-topper Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone.
Artists who covered their songs ranged from The Rolling Stones (Just My Imagination) and Aretha Franklin (I Wish It Would Rain) to Bruce Springsteen (War) and Al Green (I Can’t Get Next to You).
‘Songs outlive people’
Image: Pic: Louis Lanzano/AP 2004
Strong spent part of the 1960s recording for other labels, and left Motown again in the early 1970s and made a handful of solo albums, including Stronghold and Love Is You. In 2004, he was voted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame, which cited him as “a pivotal figure in Motown’s formative years”.
The music of Strong and other Motown writers was later featured in the Broadway hit Ain’t Too Proud: The Life And Times Of The Temptations.
According to BMI (Broadcast Music Inc), there are more than 240 songs in his back-catalogue.
“Songs outlive people,” Strong told The New York Times in 2013. “The real reason Motown worked was the publishing. The records were just a vehicle to get the songs out there to the public.
“The real money is in the publishing, and if you have publishing, then hang on to it. That’s what it’s all about. If you give it away, you’re giving away your life, your legacy. Once you’re gone, those songs will still be playing.”
Thirteen unreleased Beatles tracks are set to feature on a new Anthology compilation – almost 30 years since the last.
The announcement comes following a big hint from Sir Paul McCartney and the other official Beatles social media channels, which all shared a carousel of images containing the numbers one to four on Instagram the day before the announcement.
Anthology 4 will feature 13 demos, session recordings and other rare tracks that have never been released before, similar to the first three Anthology compilations, which were released between 1995 and 1996.
Instagram
This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Instagram cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Instagram cookies for this session only.
Details of a full track listing are yet to be revealed. There is no indication the release will feature any completely previously unheard songs.
A book and documentary series, The Beatles Anthology, is also being remastered and streamed on Disney+, billed as “The Beatles’ story, in their own words”.
The series will include a new ninth episode featuring previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage of Sir Paul, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, filmed as they made the collections.
Beatles producer George Martin’s son Giles has remastered versions of Anthology 1, 2 and 3, and all four will be released in a new box set in November.
The 191-track set will also feature new mixes of Free As A Bird and Real Love – the singles from Anthology 1 and 2 – using the late John Lennon‘s vocals. These have been mixed by the songs’ original producer, Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne.
The box set will also include the original liner notes for the first three anthologies as well as a new set of notes on Anthology 4 by Beatles author Kevin Howlett, and an introduction compiled from 1996 interviews recorded with The Beatles’ close friend and adviser Derek Taylor.
The Beatles are the best-selling musical act of all time, having achieved 18 number one singles and 15 number one albums in the UK alone since they formed in 1960.
Prosecutors in the Sean “Diddy” Combs case have urged the judge to reject a request by the hip-hop mogul for acquittal or retrial on prostitution-related charges.
He was cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking. The trial would have been “totally different” if these charges had not been included, his defence team argued, saying they lacked credibility.
Image: File pic: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP
Now, prosecutors have responded to the request for the conviction to be thrown out, or for a retrial, saying in a court document that there was “ample evidence” presented during the trial that supported the jury’s convictions.
“[Combs] masterminded every aspect of freak offs,” the document says. “He transported escorts across state lines to engage in freak offs for pay. He directed the sexual activity of escorts… for his own sexual gratification. And he personally engaged in sexual activity during freak offs.”
The two transportation for prostitution charges Combs was convicted of fall under America’s Mann Act, which prohibits interstate commerce related to prostitution.
The rapper’s lawyers have argued that, to their knowledge, he is “the only person” ever convicted of these charges for the conduct he was accused of in court.
Image: Combs’s reaction after hearing the verdicts following his trial. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
“The men chose to travel and engage in the activity voluntarily,” the defence team said in their submission to the judge for acquittal. “The verdict confirms the women were not vulnerable or exploited or trafficked or sexually assaulted during the freak offs or hotel nights.”
In their response, prosecutors said “evidence of the defendant’s guilt on the Mann Act counts was overwhelming”.
Combs, one of the most influential hip-hop producers of all time, is due to be sentenced in October. Each charge carries a potential jail sentence of 10 years.
He would have been facing a mandatory 15 years – and up to life – in prison had he been convicted of the charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, of which he was exonerated.
Combs fell to his knees when the verdicts were read out, and his team later hailed it a “victory”.
The rapper has already served nearly a year at a federal jail in Brooklyn, where he has been since his arrest in September 2024.
He has been in contact with Donald Trump about a pardon, a source close to the rapper’s legal team told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News earlier this month, but the president has cast doubt on this actually happening.
Judge Arun Subramanian, who heard the trial, said Combs has not met the burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence a “lack of danger to any person or the community”.
The police watchdog has closed its investigations into the circumstances leading up to the decision to charge TV presenter Caroline Flack with assaulting her boyfriend.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) initially recommended a caution after the alleged assault in December 2019 – but London’s Metropolitan Police appealed and the Love Island host was charged with assault by beating.
Various reviews into the way the case was handled have been carried out by the CPS, the Met, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) since Flack’s death. In April 2024, the star’s mother told Sky News she believes her daughter’s celebrity status likely contributed towards the decision to charge her.
It has now emerged that the IOPC closed its latest investigation, relating to the actions of officers in appealing to the CPS, in January 2025 – finding the outcome was “reasonable and proportionate”.
An IOPC spokesperson said it received a complaint referral from the Met, which contained “a number of allegations about the force’s investigation” into the alleged assault, in March 2024.
Image: Flack presented The Xtra Factor and one series of The X Factor with Olly Murs. Pic: AP
The majority of the allegations had already been investigated by the force and reviewed by the IOPC, the watchdog said, so it found no further action was required. However, the Met was directed to investigate one aspect of the complaint “on the basis there may be new witness evidence available”.
This related to the actions of officers in appealing the initial CPS decision, and five allegations were returned to the force’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) to “resolve in a proportionate manner”, the IOPC spokesperson told Sky News.
In June 2024, the Met found there was “no new evidence that would alter any previous outcomes”, the spokesperson added, and the complainant asked the IOPC to review once again.
“Following that review, in January 2025 we found that outcome to be reasonable and proportionate.”
A Met Police spokesperson said DPS officers made further enquiries and examined the evidence last year. “It did not change the original outcome that the service provided by officers was acceptable,” the spokesperson said.
“The family were advised of the outcome in June [2024] and then appealed that outcome to the IOPC. The IOPC carried out a review and, in January 2025, found no new evidence that would alter any of the previous outcomes.”
Both the Met and the IOPC have closed their investigations. The IOPC said another review could be considered in light of any new evidence.
At the end of Flack’s inquest, coroner Mary Hassell said the alleged assault had “played out in the national press” following her arrest and had a serious impact on her mental health.
In April 2024, her mother Christine Flack told Sky News: “This wasn’t domestic violence. This was an accident. But she was portrayed in the court and in the newspapers as a domestic abuser, and that’s what hurts. That’s what I want got rid of – because she wasn’t.”
She said she believed her daughter was treated differently due to her celebrity status. “And that’s not on. She shouldn’t be treated better, but she shouldn’t be treated worse.”
Image: Caroline Flack at the launch of Strictly Come Dancing, which she went on to win, in 2014. Pic: Dominic Lipinski/PA
This was not the first investigation into the handling of Flack’s case, with the Met initially referring itself to the watchdog just a few days after her death.
The DPS found there was no misconduct, prompting another complaint from Flack’s family to the IOPC.
In 2023, the IOPC ordered the force to apologise for not recording its reason for appealing against the caution, but said it had not identified any misconduct.
Flack’s boyfriend, Lewis Burton, had said he did not support the prosecution, and following her death her management released a statement criticising the decision.
At the time, a CPS spokesperson said it was normal practice for prosecutors to hold a debriefing after complex or sensitive cases have ended.
“This has taken place and found that the case was handled appropriately and in line with our published legal guidance,” they said.
Flack, 40, presented shows including spin-offs I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! NOW! and The Xtra Factor, as well as one season of the main X Factor show with former contestant Olly Murs, before becoming best known as the host of Love Island. She also won Strictly Come Dancing in 2014.
Sky News has contacted Flack’s family for comment.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK