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Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles · The Miracles were a vocal group from Detroit, founded in 1955 by a group of teenagers from the same high school. Smokey Robinson, Ronnie White and Pete Moore had been singing together since they were eleven. After the names The Five Chimes and The Matadors, and with the arrival of Bobby Rogers and Claudette Rogers, the group was called The Miracles from 1958. The guitarist Marv Tarplin completed the regular line-up. Berry Gordy was impressed by Robinson's voice and by his notebook full of songs he had written himself. On Robinson's advice Gordy founded his own label, Tamla, the basis of Motown, in 1959.
Music and breakthrough
Shop Around became the first Motown single to sell a million copies in late 1960. After that came You've Really Got a Hold on Me (1962), Mickey's Monkey (1963) and, under the new name Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, the album Going to a Go-Go (1965) with The Tracks of My Tears and Ooo Baby Baby. In 1970 The Tears of a Clown, which Stevie Wonder had helped to write, became a number 1. Robinson left the group in 1972 for a solo career.
Influence
The Miracles were Motown's first group and the model for all the groups that followed. Unlike most Motown artists, they wrote their own songs, and also many hits for label-mates, such as My Guy for Mary Wells and My Girl for The Temptations. Robinson became a vice president of the company. Characteristic of the group are Robinson's tender, high lead vocal and the soft harmony singing around it.
Listening
The Tracks of My Tears · Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, 1965Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 1961Cookin’ With the Miracles
- 1961Hi… We’re the Miracles
- 1962I’ll Try Something New
- 1963Christmas With The Miracles
- 1963The Fabulous Miracles
- 1963The Miracles Doin’ Mickey’s Monkey
- 1965Going to a Go‐Go
- 1966Away We a Go-Go
- 1967Make It Happen
- 1968Special Occasion
- 1969Four in Blue
- 1969Time Out for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
- 1970A Pocket Full of Miracles
- 1970The Season for Miracles
- 1970What Love Has…
- 1971One Dozen Roses
- 1972Flying High Together
- 1973Renaissance
- 1974Do It Baby
- 1975City of Angels
- 1975Don’t Cha Love It
- 1976The Power of Music
- 1977Love Crazy
- 1978Miracles
In School of Rock
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- Mixtape 6: Fear of a Black PlanetNL Reader