The Miracles were an American vocal group that was the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy's Motown Records, and one of the most important and most influential groups in pop, rock and roll, soul and R&B music history.
Claudette Annette Rogers Robinson is an American singer, best known as a member of the vocal group The Miracles from 1957 to 1972. Her brother Emerson "Sonny" Rogers was a founding member of the group, which before 1957 was named "The Matadors". Claudette replaced her brother in the group after he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
"Who's Lovin' You" is a Motown soul song, written in 1960 by William "Smokey" Robinson. The song has been recorded by many different artists including The Miracles, who recorded the 1960 original version, The Temptations, The Supremes, Terence Trent D'arby, Brenda and The Tabulations, John Farnham, Human Nature, En Vogue, Michael Bublé and Giorgia Todrani and Jessica Mauboy. The most famous version is attributed to The Jackson 5. Shaheen Jafargholi, then twelve years old, performed the song at Michael Jackson's public memorial service in July 2009.
Robert Edward Rogers was an American musician and tenor singer, best known as a founding member of Motown vocal group the Miracles from 1956 until his death. He was inducted, in 2012, as a member of the Miracles to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to singing, he also contributed to writing some of the Miracles' songs. Rogers is the grandfather of R&B singer Brandi Williams from the R&B girl group Blaque and is a cousin of fellow Miracles member Claudette Rogers Robinson.
The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey is an album by The Miracles, released in 1963 by Tamla Records. It includes the group's Top 10 smash single "Mickey's Monkey", written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland, which was later recorded by several other artists. "Mickey's Monkey" popularized "The Monkey" as a novelty dance. Also included is another H-D-H dance-oriented single, "I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying", a Billboard Top 40 hit. The album peaked at No. 113 on the Billboard 200.
The Miracles Recorded Live on Stage is a 1963 live album by the Miracles, part of the early 1960s Motown "Live on Stage" series by various artists. The first of three live albums the group released during their career, it features R&B numbers led by Smokey Robinson along with Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White and Claudette Robinson recorded at either the Apollo Theater in New York or The Regal Theatre in Chicago, Illinois during their 1962 and 1963 tour. Miracles member Pete Moore was serving in the US Army at the time of this performance. The opener "Mighty Good Lovin'" was selected for various later compilations, while "I've Been Good To You" later appeared in a stereo mix on the 2002 compilation Ooo Baby Baby: The Anthology.
The Fabulous Miracles is a 1963 album by The Miracles featuring the million-selling Grammy Hall of Fame hit, "You've Really Got a Hold on Me", one of the group's most popular singles. It also features the chart hits "A Love She Can Count On" and "I've Been Good To You", which The Beatles' John Lennon has identified as his favorite Miracles song. Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson was the principal writer on all tracks, while Miracles members Ronnie White and Bobby Rogers co-wrote with him on several of the album's songs. Although two of the album’s songs, "Won’t You Take Me Back" and "Your Love", were taken from their debut album Hi... We're the Miracles, all eight new songs were released as either singles or B-sides.
I'll Try Something New is the third album by The Miracles. It was released on the Tamla label, a subsidiary of Motown. The title track was an important early single for the group, featuring Smokey Robinson's lead voice, a chorus led by his wife Claudette and an orchestra of strings. Other hits like "What's So Good About Goodbye" and "I've Been Good To You" are included, plus three covers of easy listening standards: "I've Got You Under My Skin" written by Cole Porter, "On the Street Where You Live" from the Broadway musical My Fair Lady, and "Speak Low" by Ogden Nash and Kurt Weill, on which both Smokey and Claudette Robinson sing lead. I'll Try Something New also features a rare lead by Miracles baritone Ronnie White on "A Love That Can Never Be", and a lead by Claudette Robinson on "He Don't Care About Me".
Cookin' with the Miracles is the second Tamla album by American soul vocal group The Miracles, and their second of 1961. Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson co-wrote most of the songs, including the two charting singles "Ain't It Baby" and "Everybody's Gotta Pay Some Dues". Another single, "Mighty Good Lovin’" b/w "Broken Hearted", was issued in between those two. However, only "Broken Hearted" appears on the album, featuring a different vocal take to the single version. The album is composed mostly of upbeat R&B tunes with steady string riffs, like "Determination" and "Broken Hearted". A cover of the jazz standard "Embraceable You" by George & Ira Gershwin is also included. "That's The Way I Feel", also from this album, was chosen for the soundtrack of the award-winning 1964 Ivan Dixon film Nothing But a Man.
Greatest Hits from the Beginning is a compilation double LP by The Miracles released in 1965. This was the first double album ever released by the Motown Record Corporation. It covers most of the group's hits from their pre-1965 albums, such as "Shop Around", "Who's Lovin’ You", "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" and "Mickey's Monkey", as well as the non-album singles from 1964: "I Like It Like That" and "That's What Love Is Made Of". The album was a success, reaching #21 on the Billboard Pop Album Chart. It was also the first Miracles album to chart on the Billboard R&B Album chart, where it was an even bigger success, peaking at #2.
Marvin Tarplin was an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s. He was one of the group's original members and co-wrote several of their biggest hits, including the 1965 Grammy Hall Of Fame-inducted "The Tracks of My Tears". He is also a winner of the BMI Songwriter's Award, and the ASCAP Award Of Merit, and was a 2012 posthumous inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Miracles.
"I'll Try Something New" is a song written by Smokey Robinson and originally released in 1962 by The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla subsidiary label. Their version was a Billboard Top 40 hit, peaking at #39, and just missed the Top 10 of its R&B chart, peaking at #11. The song was released later as a joint single by Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations, also becoming a charting version on the Billboard 100 pop singles chart, peaking for two weeks in April 1969 at number 25.
"Way Over There" is a 1960 Motown soul song and single, written by William "Smokey" Robinson, produced by Berry Gordy, and first performed by The Miracles for the Tamla (Motown) label. It was one of The Miracles' earliest charting singles, reaching #94 on the Billboard Pop chart. Motown president Berry Gordy, Jr. had The Miracles record the song several times during its chart run. The first version had minimal orchestration. The second version added strings, and this is the version played by most oldies stations today. Claudette Robinson had several lead parts on this song, answering Smokey's leads with chants of "Come to me, Baby". The song's B-side, "(You Can) Depend on Me", while not charting nationally, did become a popular regional hit in many areas of the country, and Smokey still sings it in his live shows today. "Way Over There" was subsequently recorded by Edwin Starr, The Temptations, The Marvelettes, The Royal Counts, The Spitballs, and Eddie Adams Jr, while "(You Can) Depend on Me" was later recorded by The Temptations, The Supremes, Mary Wells, and Brenda Holloway. The song was also used for the title of Hip-O Select's 2009 compilation: The Miracles – Depend on Me: The Early Albums, which collects the first five LP releases by the group.
What Love Has...Joined Together is a 1970 album by R&B group Smokey Robinson & The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label. A concept album consisting solely of six short love songs, it charted at number 97 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart, and reached the Top 10 of Billboard's R&B album chart, peaking at number 9. It was the first Miracles album to have no new songs; the recordings are all cover versions of songs written by noted composers, such as Stevie Wonder, Berry Gordy, Frank Wilson, Brenda Holloway and her sister Patrice Holloway, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Marvin Gaye, The Beatles' John Lennon & Paul McCartney,, and Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers.
"After All" is a 1960 song written by Smokey Robinson and originally recorded and released by The Miracles on the Tamla label. It was first recorded as an unreleased single by The Supremes for Tamla; it was supposed to be their first single but it was canceled in favor of "I Want a Guy", and their cover wasn't released until it appeared on the 2000 box set, The Supremes. The song is noted for both groups' unusual choices for leads. For the Miracles' version it serves as a rare lead for Claudette Rogers Robinson, instead of the group’s main lead, Claudette's husband, Smokey Robinson. In the Supremes' case it is their only single to feature Barbara Martin singing on lead vocals. Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Diana Ross sing verses, and Martin sings the bridge. "After All" was also later covered by The Marvelettes, in the early 1970s, with group member Wanda Young Rogers as lead. Their version appears on the album The Return of the Marvelettes, and later became the group's belated final single.
"(You Can) Depend on Me", was a 1959 song by Motown Records group The Miracles, which also appeared on the group's first album, Hi... We're The Miracles. It also appeared as the "B" side of the group's hit single, "Way Over There". It was written by Motown Records' President and founder Berry Gordy and Miracles member William "Smokey" Robinson. While not charting nationally, this song was a very popular regional hit tune in many areas of the country, so much so, in fact, that it was included on the group's first greatest hits album, Greatest Hits from the Beginning, and Smokey still sings it, by request, in his live shows today.
The Miracles – Depend On Me: The Early Albums is a 2009 double-CD limited release by Motown Records' original vocal group The Miracles, released through Universal's Hip-O Select imprint to coincide with the legendary Motown label's 50th anniversary. In addition, this collection's release also coincided with The Miracles' being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 20 of that year.
A Pocket Full of Miracles (TS306) is a 1970 album by Motown Records R&B group The Miracles, issued on its Tamla subsidiary label, one of three albums the group released that year. This album charted at #56 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and reached the top ten of the magazine's R&B albums chart, peaking at #10. It was released on September 30 of that year. Hit singles on the album included "Point It Out" and the topical Ashford & Simpson written-and-produced song "Who's Gonna Take the Blame", a sad, dark song about a girl that is turned out as a prostitute. Also included is the charting flip side "Darling Dear", B-side of "Point It Out", which reached #100 on the Billboard pop chart, and spawned a cover version by The Jackson Five.
"Happy Landing" is a 1962 R&B recording by Motown Records singing group The Miracles, issued on that label's Tamla Records subsidiary label (T54073). It was recorded in November 1962, and appeared on their album The Fabulous Miracles. The group also recorded a live version of this song on their first live album, 1963's The Miracles Recorded Live on Stage.
The Miracles Sing Modern was an unreleased 1963 album by Motown Records R&B group The Miracles. It was given the official catalog number of Tamla T234 and was due for release after The Miracles' 3rd album I'll Try Something New, having been mentioned on the sleeve notes of that album. It was intended for release in March 1963. However it was never given an official release date and Motown later decided to shelve the project.
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