Get ready to step to Motown at St. Luke's

Growing up, Quentin Brown spent his summers at his grandmother’s house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, having cookouts, eating hot dogs and dancing with his 20 cousins to Motown music. 

They’d sing and dance along to songs. Brown’s favorites became The Temptations for their harmonies and attire as well as The Four Tops, which features a baritone lead that most Motown groups didn’t have in the group. He appreciated hearing someone singing in a similar register to his own as a lead in a group. 

Brown saw these musicians as role models.

“Seeing all of these guys hit these dance steps, singing these great harmonies, all looking good (because) they always had on a stylish two-piece suit, it was always incredible to watch them,” Brown said. 

Practicing those dance moves and singing along to classic Motown songs as a child has paid off. 

Brown will star in The Men of Motown as the group performs Friday, Feb. 6, through Sunday, Feb. 8, in Founder’s Hall at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church.

He has been performing since he was 3 years old singing in the church choir. He went on to do talent shows at school, and when his family moved to Orlando when he was 12 years old, he attended the Dr. Phillips High School Visual and Performing Arts Magnet program. 

“It feels like home when I’m on the stage,” Brown said. “Any time I tried working what we call a pedestrian job, it hasn’t felt like that’s what I’m meant to be doing, but any time I hit the stage, it feels like that’s exactly what I’m meant to be doing.”

Years later, Brown and his friends Sterling McClary, Michael Nero and Daisean Garrett came up with the idea for The Men of Motown while living in Atlanta, Georgia. Brown said he was interested in creating a Motown tribute show to potentially perform on cruise ships as well as across the country in performing arts centers as a headlining act. 

The Men of Motown will perform songs by Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Drifters, The Contours and more. 

The four of them started rehearsing in a dance studio in a church, creating choreography to beloved Motown songs. 

“(Motown) is timeless, it’s classic,” Brown said. “It doesn’t matter whether you lived while the music was being created or you’re born today. It’s just music that sticks with you, and it just attaches itself to your heart and to your loved ones’ hearts.”

To create the show, Brown, McClary, Nero and Garrett looked up and went through the top hits of the best Motown groups and compiled a list. They then narrowed down the list using a more mainstream approach, Brown said. He hopes The Men of Motown will be able to highlight more of the groups that were not initially selected in future renditions of the show. 

“It was a lot of battling with people like this song is better than this song, or should we choose this one?” Brown said. “Ultimately, we chose the ones we felt connected with us the most.”

The Men of Motown for the St. Luke’s performance will feature Brown, Casey Gulledge, Alantae Jackson and Kerry Alce. The performers met working at SeaWorld when Brown relocated to the area in 2023. 

“It’s like performing with family,” Brown said. “As the oldest member in the group, it’s like having the kid brothers I never had because I am actually the youngest brother (in my family).”

Brown said the audience at St. Luke’s can expect 60 to 70 minutes of “truly electric, energetic performers.” He said this will not be a typical show as he wants people to sing along and celebrate the “incredible music” Motown artists created. 

“We are going to cut some steps that are going to burn a hole into the stage,” he said. “We’re going to have the audience up on their feet, singing, dancing, clapping along, and we just want to leave everybody with a memory they’ll be able to take back with them for the rest of the year.”

Brown and McClary created all the choreography for the songs. He said the process entailed a lot of trial and error. 

“It’s a lot of getting in front of the mirror, making sure everyone matches evenly because the great thing about the male groups back then is they all had a sense of cleanliness and a uniform look about them,” Brown said. “We do a great job of honoring that but also still showing everybody’s personality and their uniqueness to movement.” 

At 34 years old, Brown said it’s “absolutely wild” to be living out his dreams as a performer. He said The Men of Motown performing music he grew up with is a love letter to his family and to the community at St. Luke’s, which he calls his church home.

He’s looking forward to performing in front of loved ones, having the church community see him in his element and having high school friends be able to attend the performance to support him.