Music
Bobby Rogers
1940–2013 · singer, songwriter
Detroit-born founding member of the Miracles (1956–2013) who co-wrote the Temptations' first hit, "The Way You Do the Things You Do".
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Southfield, Michigan
aged 73- Birth name
- Robert Edward Rogers
- Detroit years
- 1940–2013
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rogers was born in Detroit on the same day and in the same hospital as Smokey Robinson, though the two met only as teenagers. He joined his cousin Claudette Rogers and Robinson's friends in the group that became the Miracles, whose "Shop Around" (1960) was Motown's first number-one R&B hit and first million seller. Besides singing tenor and co-lead on "You've Really Got a Hold on Me", he wrote for other Motown acts: with Robinson he co-wrote the Temptations' breakthrough "The Way You Do the Things You Do" and "My Baby", the Contours' "First I Look at the Purse", Marvin Gaye's "One More Heartache" and the Miracles' "Going to a Go-Go". He married Marvelettes singer Wanda Young in 1963. He kept the Miracles name alive on the road for decades, dividing his later years between Southfield and California, and died in 2013, a year after the group's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Highlights
- Founding member of the Miracles
- Co-wrote "The Way You Do the Things You Do" (1964)
- Co-lead vocal on "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (1962)
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2012 with the Miracles
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Recorded here · 1958–1972
Motown Museum
The Miracles, Motown's first successful group, recorded their hits in Studio A.
Performed here · 1960s
Graystone Ballroom
Demolished · 1922–1980
The Miracles were among the Motown acts who played the ballroom, which Berry Gordy bought in 1963. Demolished in 1980.
Buried here · 2013
Woodlawn Cemetery
His grave (per Wikidata).