Motown Records — named after Detroit, the Motor City — was one of music's most creative labels, merging soul and pop to create such 1960s-era groups as Diana Ross and The Supremes, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Temptations, The Jackson 5 and The Four Tops.

Among innumerable top-40 hit-makers, Stevie Wonder was a standout, becoming a one-man music machine, eventually signing artists to his own Black Bull label.

Bernadette Bascom was one of them.

She and her band bring their Las Vegas-style Motown revue to Bothell on Sunday for "A Motown Evening." It's a 90-minute concert of Motown hits, from Marvin Gaye to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. A five-piece band and three background singers join Bascom onstage.

Sanjaya Malakar, who is in the show with his sister Shyamali, also joins Bascom on a Stevie Wonder tune. The brother and sister were "American Idol" contestants in season six.

Bascom's troupe of 10 young singers from The Music Project also takes the stage, part of the Secondary Academy for Success (SAS), an alternative-high school in the Northshore School District.

The concert benefits the program, started two years ago by James Geiszler, a teacher at the school. Professional singers work with students in the program, and the 10 girls were novices to Motown music just a few weeks ago. Now they're doing the Supremes moves like pros.

Why are the body moves so important in Motown music?

"Most people hear with their eyes," said Bascom. "They really do. They're looking.

"James Brown. Perfect analogy. Couldn't sing a lick. But his stage show was so incredible, people were just caught up."

The girls have been rehearsing an hour a day for the past four weeks in "Studio Seven" (Room 7) of the W.A. Anderson Building in downtown Bothell, home to the SAS.

The room is full of sound, mic and recording equipment as well as drum traps, and Geiszler works the sound board as Bascom coaches the girls in a Motown medley. The atmosphere is sheer joy as the girls sing:

"Ain't no mountain high enough.

"Ain't no mountain low enough.

"Ain't no river wide enough.

"To keep me from you."

"You take it up a notch," Bascom tells the girls. "It gets more intense. Let's try that Stevie Wonder song. And once again, the words mean everything."

A busy vocal coach as well as a performer, Bascom also is tour manager for "Idol" finalist Sanjaya Malakar.

Malakar was one of the most popular singers on the show, even making Time magazine's 2007 poll of the most influential people of the year. He'll sing one of Stevie Wonder's songs, among other tunes.

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com