The Funk Brothers, are the people who created the Motown sound as itself. Often they were forgot, as they’ve mostly became props for quality as studio musicians, but in most case just by singers and additionally the Funk Brothers never appeared on any record cover. They always were THE band, when it came to recording a new Motown hit of that time. The list of number one hits is damn long and many many musicians like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, the Four Tops etc. reached their popularity just because of these guys. Yesterday, I watched Standing In The Shadows Of Motown (google video), a documentery about them. I really can recommend that movie to everybody who wants to know how that great movement in music history took place.
PS: If you liked that movie, buy it on DVD in order to have pure phenomenal sound quality!