Biography
Rockwell is the son of Motown founder and CEO Berry Gordy and Margaret Norton. His father named him Kennedy William Gordy after John F. Kennedy and William "Smokey" Robinson. To avoid seeming nepotistic, he secured his record deal without his father's knowledge. Motown actually came up with the name Rockwell and the young Gordy agreed to the change because he believed he "rocked well."
In 1984, Rockwell released his biggest hit single, "Somebody's Watching Me", featuring childhood friends Michael Jackson on guest vocals (notably in the chorus lyrics), and Jermaine Jackson singing back-up. "Somebody's Watching Me" became a Top 10 pop hit in both the US and UK, and a #1 R&B hit. Follow-up singles underperformed, however, with single "Obscene Phone Caller", being Rockwell's only other Top 40 single. This follow-up single reached #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rockwell soon ended his musical career with Motown.
Rockwell appeared on Soul Train on February 2, 1985 (Season 14, Episode 17)
Rockwell was not the first member of the Gordy family to hit Billboard's Hot 100 as a recording artist. His uncle, Robert Gordy, reached the longer reaches of the chart in 1958 with "Everyone Was There," recording under the name of Bob Kayli.
Rockwell's paternal half-sister is actress Rhonda Ross Kendrick, the eldest child of Diana Ross. Rockwell is also closely related to the group LMFAO through his half-brother Redfoo (Stefan Kendal Gordy, son of Berry Gordy and Nancy Leiviska) and his nephew SkyBlu (son of half-brother Berry Gordy IV and his wife Valerie Robeson).
Read more about this topic: Rockwell (musician)
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“The best part of a writer’s biography is not the record of his adventures but the story of his style.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“A biography is like a handshake down the years, that can become an arm-wrestle.”
—Richard Holmes (b. 1945)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)