William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson was the founder and frontman of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. Robinson led the group from its 1955 origins as "the Five Chimes" until 1972 when he announced a retirement from the group to focus on his role as Motown's vice president.
Robert Calvin Bland, known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer.
The Music of Nebraska has included a variety of country, jazz, blues, ragtime, rock and alternative rock musicians. Several towns across the state have active musical venues, with several communities having a particularly important musical legacy.
Robert Lee Hatfield was an American singer, best known as one half of the Righteous Brothers. He sang the tenor part for the duo, but his most recognizable work is his 1965 recording of "Unchained Melody" which he performed as a solo.
The Miracles were an American rhythm and blues vocal group that was the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy's Motown Records, and one of the most important and influential groups in pop, rock and roll, and R&B music history. Formed in 1955 by Smokey Robinson, Warren "Pete" Moore, and Ronnie White, the group started off as the Five Chimes, changing their name to the Matadors two years later. The group then settled on the Miracles after the inclusion of Claudette Robinson in 1958. The most notable Miracles line-up included the Robinsons, Moore, White, Bobby Rogers and Marv Tarplin. After a failed audition with Brunswick Records, the group began working with songwriter Berry Gordy, who helped to produce their first records for the End and Chess labels before establishing Tamla Records in 1959 and signing the Miracles as its first act. The group eventually scored the label's first million-selling hit record with the 1960 Grammy Hall of Fame smash, "Shop Around", and further established themselves as one of Motown's top acts with the hit singles "You've Really Got a Hold on Me", "What's So Good About Goodbye", "Way Over There", "I'll Try Something New", "Mickey's Monkey", "Going to a Go-Go", "(Come 'Round Here) I'm the One You Need", "Just A Mirage", "If You Can Want", "More Love", "I Don't Blame You at All", "Ooo Baby Baby", The multi-award-winning "The Tracks of My Tears", "Special Occasion", "I Second That Emotion", "Baby Baby Don't Cry", the number-one Pop smashes "The Tears of a Clown" and "Love Machine", "Do It Baby", and "My Girl Has Gone", among numerous other hits.
Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded Tape (GRT) in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.
Bobby Rush is a Grammy Award Winning American blues musician, composer and singer. His style incorporates elements of blues, rap and funk.
Claudette Annette Rogers Robinson is an American singer-songwriter. She was a member of 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.
Bobby Howard Byrd was an American R&B/soul singer, songwriter, bandleader, talent scout, record producer, and musician, who played an integral and important part in the development of soul and funk music in association with James Brown. Byrd began his career in 1952 as member of the gospel group the Gospel Starlighters, who later changed their name to the Avons in 1953 and the Five Royals in 1954, before settling with the name the Flames in 1955 prior to Brown's joining the group; their agent later changed it to The Famous Flames. Byrd was the actual founder of The Flames and is credited with the discovery of James Brown. He also claims responsibility for writing most of James Brown's hits. As group founder, and one of the longest-serving members of the group, Byrd was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame posthumously in 2012. Byrd was also a 1998 recipient of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Pioneer Award. Byrd helped to inspire the musical aspirations of James Brown, who launched his career with Byrd.
Robert Edward "Bobby" Rogers was an American musician and tenor singer, best known as a member of Motown vocal group the Miracles from 1956 until his death on March 3, 2013, in Southfield, Michigan. 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.
Robert Valentine Braddock is an American country songwriter and record producer. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Braddock has contributed numerous hit songs during more than 40 years in the industry, including 13 number-one hit singles.
Dion and the Belmonts were a leading American vocal group of the late 1950s. All of its members were from the Bronx, New York City. In 1957, Dion DiMucci joined the vocal group, The Belmonts. The established trio of Angelo D'Aleo, Carlo Mastrangelo, and Fred Milano, formed a quartet with DiMucci.
The Famous Flames were an American rhythm and blues vocal group founded in Toccoa, Georgia, in 1953 by Bobby Byrd. James Brown began his career as a member of the Famous Flames, emerging as the lead singer by the time of their first professional recording, "Please, Please, Please", in 1956.
Terry Manning is an American singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, photographer, audio engineer, and visual artist. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top, The Tragically Hip, Zeno, Jay Boy Adams, Booker T. & the MG's, Shakira, Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Rhino Bucket, Johnny Winter, Johnny Taylor, Jason and the Scorchers, the Staple Singers, Molly Hatchet, George Thorogood, Al Green, Widespread Panic, Shania Twain, Joe Cocker, Joe Walsh, and Lenny Kravitz, among others
William L. "Billy" Griffin is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for replacing Smokey Robinson as lead singer of The Miracles in 1972.
Bobby Nelson Poe, also known as The Poe Kat, was an American musician who had a long and varied career in the music business.
Nesuhi Ertegun was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International.
"You Left the Water Running" is a soul music song written by Dan Penn, Rick Hall, and Oscar Franks which has been recorded by many artists, including Wilson Pickett, Barbara Lynn, Don Varner (1967), Billy Young, Maurice & Mac, Amazing Rhythm Aces, Bobby Hatfield, James & Bobby Purify, and Otis Redding.
"Reconsider Baby" is a blues song written and recorded by Lowell Fulson in 1954. Performed in the West Coast blues style, it was Fulson's first record chart hit for Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records. With memorable lyrics and a driving rhythm, "Reconsider Baby" became a blues standard and has been recognized by the Blues Foundation and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.
Stanley Joseph Lewis was an American record label owner, in Shreveport, Louisiana.
