The group that later became the Miracles was formed in 1955 by five teenage friends from Detroit, Michigan, under the name the Five Chimes. Three of the founding members, Smokey Robinson, Warren "Pete" Moore, and Ronnie White, had been singing together since they each were around the age of eleven. After Dawson quit the group and Grice dropped out to get married, they were replaced by Emerson "Sonny" Rogers and his cousin Bobby, and they changed their name to the Matadors. In 1957, Rogers left to join the United States Army and Claudette Rogers, his sister, who had been singing with the sister group the Matadorettes, joined them shortly afterwards In 1958, the group became the Miracles, and following two years of courtship, Smokey and Claudette married in November 1959. The group signed with Berry Gordy's Tamla Records label, and gave the parent label Motown Record Corporation its first million-selling hit record with the 1960 Grammy Hall of Fame smash, 'Shop Around'. They 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', and 'Way Over There'. Their first album for Tamla was 'Hi... We're The Miracles', which was released in 1961, with most of the songs being written or co-written by Robinson. This was followed later that year by 'Cookin' With The Miracles', which was a much more polished production, and involved more extensive instrumentation than their debut album.
In 1962 they started work on their third album, which was to be called 'The Miracles Sing Modern', and the original plan was for a collection of covers of show tunes, but according to Miracle Pete Moore, the group thought the songs did not fit their style but were unwilling to go against Berry Gordy, Jr.'s orders. The idea was to showcase the Miracles' talent and versatility on different genres of music, and the ability of different group members to sing lead vocals in addition to main lead singer Robinson. Cousins Bobby and Claudette shared lead vocals on the standard 'Easy Street', and Claudette leads alone on Mr. Misery', 'My Heart Says Yes', and 'Father Dear'. Smokey and Claudette Robinson share the lead chores on the standard 'If I Were A Bell' (from the 1950 musical 'Guys And Dolls'), joined in mid-song by Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, and Ronnie White in an ensemble lead. This was a transitional period for the group's line-up, with bass singer/vocal arranger Pete Moore featured on the front cover even though he had not been available as he had been recently been drafted into the U.S. Armed Services. His place was taken by Marv Tarplin, and so 'The Miracles Sing Modern' would have been one of the few Miracles albums to feature the complete original six-member group line=up on its cover, including Tarplin, Claudette & Smokey Robinson, Rogers, White, and Moore. The album was ultimately left unfinished, but three show tunes recorded for it were included on its replacement record 'I'll Try Something New', which featured 'I've Got You Under My Skin' from the musical film 'Born To Dance', 'On The Street Where You Live' from the Broadway musical 'My Fair Lady', and 'Speak Low' from the Broadway musical 'One Touch Of Venus'. The remaining recordings were shelved until they later appeared on various compilations over the subsequent years, and so if you want to hear them all in one place then here is the abandoned 'The Miracles Sing Modern' album.
Track listing
01 Easy Street
02 If I Were A Bell
03 Along Came Love
04 On The Street Where You Live
05 Come To Me
06 Father Dear
07 My Heart Says Yes
08 Speak Low
05 Come To Me
06 Father Dear
07 My Heart Says Yes
08 Speak Low
09 I Had To Cry
10 (Talking 'Bout) Nobody But My Baby
11 I Think We Can Make It
12 I've Got You Under My Skin
10 (Talking 'Bout) Nobody But My Baby
11 I Think We Can Make It
12 I've Got You Under My Skin
13 Mr. Misery (Let Me Be)
