Marv Johnson; Helped to Create the Motown Sound

Marv Johnson, a jaunty-voiced rhythm-and-blues singer whose first records helped create the Motown sound with Berry Gordy Jr., died Sunday after suffering a stroke at a concert in South Carolina. He was 54.

Johnson collapsed backstage after performing Friday in Sumter, S.C., at a 40th anniversary concert for Bill Pinckney, a member of the Drifters. He died at Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia, S.C., a hospital spokesman said.

Johnson met Gordy while working in a Detroit record store. In 1959, Johnson recorded “Come to Me,” which was leased to the United Artists label. Although the record was only a modest hit--No. 30 on the pop chart--it was the first of the Motown songs.

Gordy paired Johnson’s gospel background with a churchy female chorus and a male bass. The result was a new sound with black roots that also appealed to white listeners.

By 1960, the duo had made two top 10 hits, “You Got What It Takes” and “I Love the Way You Love” and Gordy had created his first label, Tamla Records.

Other songs by Johnson included “I’m Comin’ Home,” “Ain’t Gonna Be That Way,” “All the Love I Got,” “Move Two Mountains,” “Happy Days’ and “Merry-Go-Round.”

Johnson, a Detroit native, continued touring the United States and Europe after his recording career tailed off in the early 1970s, said Johnson’s Detroit-based manager, William Baran.

Johnson is survived by three children.