Ronald White - Biography

Biography

Born in Detroit, White began his friendship with fellow Miracles co-founder Smokey Robinson when they were kids. The pair started singing together when White was 12 and Robinson was 11. They were soon joined by a third boy, Pete Moore, and in 1955, the trio formed a quintet called The Five Chimes, with two other boys. After the inclusion of Bobby Rogers and his cousin Emerson "Sonny" Rogers, the group changed its name to the Matadors, and changed their name again to The Miracles after Claudette Rogers, of the sister group the Matadorettes, replaced "Sonny".

The quintet soon began working with Berry Gordy following a failed audition with Brunswick Records and soon found fame after signing with Gordy's Motown label under the Tamla subsidiary. During the group's early years, White and Robinson performed several songs as the duo Ron & Bill. White helped Robinson compose several hit singles including The Miracles' "My Girl Has Gone" and "A Fork in the Road" and is known as the co-writer and co-producer of The Temptations' signature song, "My Girl" and also co-wrote the same group's "Don't Look Back". He also co-wrote Mary Wells' "You Beat Me to the Punch" and Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar". White would later win awards as a songwriter from the BMI. White helped to bring a then underage Stevie Wonder to Motown after overhearing him playing with White's cousin; Wonder was signed immediately afterwards.

In 1966, White and the other Miracles briefly retired from the road to work as staff songwriters and executives for the label, but soon complained of not getting paid, and returned to perform on the road the following year, in 1967. After Smokey Robinson, Claudette Robinson and Marv Tarplin left the group in 1972, the group carried on with Billy Griffin, scoring two more hits with Motown including the number-one smash, "Love Machine", before leaving Motown in 1977 for Columbia Records. The group disbanded in 1978 after four failed singles and two dismally received albums after Pete Moore opted for retirement and Billy Griffin returned to his solo career.

White and Bobby Rogers revived the Miracles in 1980 with Dave Finley and Carl Cotton, calling themselves "The New Miracles". This lasted until 1983, when White faced personal struggles following the death of his first wife, Earlyn, who died from breast cancer that year. White announced a retirement shortly afterwards and the Miracles again disbanded. White and Rogers revived the Miracles again in 1993. White remarried another woman, Gloria. From his two marriages, he fathered three children, daughters Michelle and Pamela and son Ronald White II, and has a granddaughter, Maya. White's daughter Michelle later succumbed from leukemia. Shortly afterwards, White himself would succumb from leukemia in August of 1995 at the age of 56.