Time Tunnel Artist Spotlight – Smokey & The Miracles
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles on All lMusic
What ever happened to one of the most significant and influential soul vocal group to emerge from Detroit in the 1960s?
Smokey left the group to pursue a solo career in 1972 and 20-year-old Billy Griffin was brought in to replace the lead singer. Once again The Miracles, the band scored several more hits, including "Do It Baby" and "Don't Cha Love It," which both reached the R&B Top Ten. The Miracles experienced a big success in early 1976 with "Love Machine (Part 1)," which reached number one on the pop charts. The multi-million selling single came off of their second album without Smokey, 1975's City of Angels, and stayed on the charts for over six months, making it the longest-running hit the band ever had. Their final album on the Motown label, The Power of Music, followed. After this, The Miracles added a new member, Billy Griffin's brother Don, and the band switched over to Columbia Records. Their first CBS release was Love Crazy (1977), which contained a single, "Spy for the Brotherhood," that was pulled off the record after complaints from the FBI. The group's last charting single, "Mean Machine," made the R&B Top 100 in 1978. Billy Griffin pursued a solo career, and Warren "Pete" Moore became a record producer in Detroit. In the late '80s, Bobby Rogers started the New Miracles, and in 1990 The Miracles (including Billy Griffin and Claudette Robinson) reunited to re-record "Love Machine" for the U.K. Motorcity label. Ronnie White died from leukemia in 1995 and Griffin died in 2013 from diabetes complications.