The ESTATE OF SYLVIA MOY FOUNDATION is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliate of the Estate of Sylvia Moy LLC dedicated to committed to:
- continuing to promote great songs and the songwriters who write them;
- promoting and preserving the long history and success of the music industry in Michigan;
- supporting emerging music creators and artists in all genres;
- encouraging the music education and talent development through online and in-person courses;
- providing free music industry educational online courses.
Sylvia Moy’s Masterpiece Sound Studios (Masterpiece) launched a Cover Song Contest (CSC) in partnership with Sony Music Publishing (SMP) in June 2022. The competition was open to any emerging independent singer, musician, singing group, or band, from any of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The CSC introduced 10 select Motown songs written and co-written by 13 former Motown/Jobete songwriters, Sylvia Moy, Frank Wilson, Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Berry Gordy, Mickey Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter, Hank Cosby, L Hardaway, Raynard Miner, Janie Bradford, Vernon Bullock, and Stevie Wonder, to new generations, new racial and ethnic groups, and inspired the contestants to produce and submit excellent covers of 8 of the 10 songs in 9 different genres. Most of the contestants were not even born when these songs were released, but the CSC resulted in more than 500 registrations and more than 100 submissions from 20 different states: MI, NC, GA, IL, TN, TX, FL, AZ, OK, NJ, VA, CA, OH, NY, MD, MO, KY, PA, NH, and IN.
The CSC entries were screened by a Judges Panel of professional songwriters, recording artists, record producers, arrangers. The 10 Finalists selected had the opportunity to perform their winning cover songs in a Grand Finale Showcase at the MotorCity Casino Hotel’s Sound Board, on April 20, 2023. Three lucky Cover Song Contest winners, Drey Skonie and The Klouds, Reggie Page, and Chris “King Creole” Roy, won Cash Awards, and the opportunity to have their master recordings represented by SMP for sync opportunities.
The Foundation seeks to continue to capitalize on the success of the 1st Cover Song Contest by sponsoring future Cover Song Contests to be produced by Masterpiece Sound Studios, and future Grand Finale Showcases to be held in the City of Detroit.
In addition, the Foundation will offer a variety of sound recording and music production courses, at the LLC’s Masterpiece Studios located at 1611 Webb in the City of Detroit, and free music industry educational online courses. The proposed courses will be designed for beginners, intermediate, and successful audio engineers, songwriters, music producers, composer arrangers, and videographers.
Students will learn the fundamental principles of the music industry, audio engineering on a professional-level console and recording equipment inside a recording facility personally built by Sylvia Moy, and will be taught by well-known accomplished music industry professionals and industry-experienced instructors. Students will have the opportunity to receive Certificates of Completion from the Foundation. Students will be required to create a new and unique music recording renditions of various Motown and/or R&B songs, selected by the Foundation. The rendition of the song to be recorded by a student must be in a genre also pre-selected by the Foundation, such as classic Motown, Blues, Latin Rhythm, Country Western, Native American, European, African, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc.
The Foundation will help to discover new talent and jumpstart new careers of its students and performers, while promoting and preserving the legacy of Sylvia Moy.
