Artist of the Month: Miracles

Formed in 1955 they started off as the “Five Chimes”, changing their name to the “Matadors” two years later and then by 1958 they would settle on the name “Miracles”.
The Miracles were the first act to be signed by Motown Records and also the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy’s Motown Records back in 1959. The group eventually scored the labels first million-selling hit record in 1960 with the song “Shop Around” also remember this was a million seller and not a #1 according to Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. There it only reached at #2. They recorded 26 top 40 pop hits, 16 reaching the Billboard top 20, and 7 top 10 singles. In all, the group had over 50 charted hits by the time they disbanded.
The Miracles are ranked at #32 on the Rolling Stone Magazine list of the 100 greatest artists of all time and 4 of their song were inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame, the most by any Motown group and in 2009 received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and after much controversy, the Miracles were finally inducted into the “Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame. Ironically both Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers (another Miracles member) were born in the same hospital on the same month and date and year (Febuary 18,1940) but they would not meet each other until they were fifteen years old. Failing an audition at Brunswick Records, Berry Gordy got the group to release a record with the “End” label, and the group was not satisfied with effort made to release the song as they would end up earning only $3.19.
By then it was Smokey Robinson who suggested Berry Gordy label. On December 27,1960 the Miracles became the first Motown group to appear on “American Bandstand”, during the Miracles heyday the group began grossing $150,000.00 a year and were making between $100,000 and $250,000 for nightly shows. One interesting fact about the group is when they were know as the Matadors,each member was paid Five dollars per week by their agent Berry Gordy through out the 1960’s. The Miracles released 19 albums for Motown.
Find out more on the Miracles as they are featured as artist of the month on the Little Red Rooster Show and KWMC the all classic hits station 1490AM. And still after many years all known facts and interesting information are by Wendy Johnson and still all shows are produced by Javier Martinez.