As girlfriend and wife of Berry Gordy, Jr. in the late '50s and early '60s, Raynoma Singleton was privy to an inside view of the birth of Motown Records. Her role was not strictly observational; she also provided administrative and creative assistance, although their marriage had ended by 1963. She worked at a Motown office in New York for a while, which ended unhappily when Raynoma, strapped for funds, pressed 5,000 copies of Mary Wells' "My Guy" on her own, to sell to record stores. Rather than face prosecution, she signed a general release from Motown and all its entities, and founded the short-lived soul label Shrine Records in Washington, D.C. with her next husband, Eddie Singleton. Raynoma would do work in various capacities for Motown from the late '60s onward, and wrote extensively about the company's early days and her relationship with Gordy in her memoir, Berry, Me, and Motown. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi