Age: 42
male
Trai Byers is an American actor and singer known for playing Andre Lyon in the Fox music-industry prime time drama Empire. During the October 7, 2015 episode of the daytime talk show, FABLife, Byers's costar Grace Gealey confirmed that they were engaged. He and Gealey married on Grand Cayman Island on April 14, 2016. Trai Byers was born in Kansas City, Kansas. After high school in Kansas City, he completed his high-school education in Georgia. Byers then graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor's degree in communications. He also attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles, and the Yale School of Drama. In 2011, Byers made his television debut with the recurring role on the ABC daytime soap opera, All My Children, and the following year had role in The CW teen soap,90210. He played civil rights activist James Forman in the 2014 historical epic film, Selma.
Motown is an American Record Company. The record company was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, and was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960, in Detroit, Michigan. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has also become a nickname for Detroit. Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American-owned record label that achieved significant crossover success. In the 1960s, Motown and its subsidiary labels (including Tamla Motown, the brand used outside the US) were the most succesful proponents of what came to be known as the Motown Sound, a style of soul music with a distinct pop influence. Those artists who signed to Motown were Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5. During the 1960s, Motown achieved spectacular success for a small record company: 79 Records in the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 record chart between 1960 and 1969. For many decades, Motown was the highest-earning African American Business in the United States.
