A History of Motown explores the soulful sounds that shaped popular music, August 19 to 29
Singer Krystle Dos Santos and her band celebrate the record label that brought us legendary performers including Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye
Krystle Dos Santos. Photo by Chelsea Schwan
Krystle Dos Santos performs A History of Motown at the Firehall Arts Centre August 19 to 29
YOU ALMOST CERTAINLY have a favourite Motown song, even if you don’t know anything about the label.
It could be Aretha Franklin’s powerhouse rendition of “Respect” that does it for you, or perhaps you’re drawn to the still-relevant social commentary of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”. Or maybe it’s one of the Supremes’ staggering number of hits; the girl group placed 45 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, with 12 of those reaching number one and 33 reaching the top 40.
She doesn’t have time to perform every last Motown hit, but in her show A History of Motown, local vocalist Krystle Dos Santos sings a good number of them—and she might even include your favourite. Along the way, she also tells the story of Motown, which started as a tiny independent record label in Detroit in the late 1950s and went on to alter the course of pop-music history forever.
A History of Motown is Dos Santos’s creation, but it isn’t a one-woman show. The singer is supported in stellar fashion by Sabrielle McCurdy-Foreman and Tiffany Rivera on backing vocals, Jon Holisko on drums, Tilden Webb on piano, Gavin Youngash on guitar, Phil Bell on bass, and Dominic Conway on saxophone.
When Stir reviewed A History of Motown last spring, Vince Kanasoot wrote:
Through Dos Santos’s stories, including some personal ones related to the music, and the range of emotions from the many songs performed, audiences will feel like they’ve been on a journey. Both the feel-good tunes and the compelling narratives behind them will stay with you long after you’ve left the theatre.
A History of Motown runs Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm, with earlier shows on Saturday and Sunday at 3 pm and a pay-what-you-can matinee on August 26 at 1 pm. 
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