Robert “Bobby” Rogers was a student at Northern High School, as were many of Motown’s performers. There, he joined Smokey Robinson’s group, the Matadors and was signed to Motown Records. Bobby Rogers’ second tenor voice complimented Smokey’s first tenor perfectly.
“Another soldier in my life has fallen. Bobby Rogers was my brother and a really good friend,” Robinson said Sunday in a statement. “He and I were born on the exact same day in the same hospital in Detroit. I am really going to miss him. I loved him very much.”
The group also starred Warren “Pete” Moore (baritone) and Ronnie White (bass). When Claudette Robinson joined the group, the name was changed to the Miracles.
As one of Motown’s most successful groups, the Miracles spawned 30 hit singles that charted in the Top 40 including, “You’ve Really Got a Hold of Me” and “Second That Emotion”. Rogers co-wrote many of the Miracles’ hits with Smokey, including “Going to a Go-Go”. He also shares writing credit for the Temptations hit “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and “First I Look at the Purse” made famous by the Contours.
His voice can be heard on Marvin Gaye’s hit “What’s Going On” saying, “”It’s just a groovy party, man, I can dig it.”
In 2012, Bobby Rogers and the Miracles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Smokey Robinson was inducted twenty-five years earlier as a solo artist.
Ronnie White passed away in 1995.
Funeral arragements are being made through James H. Cole for Funerals. Stay tuned for more details.
MyFoxDetroit contributed to this report.
Follow Amber L. Bogins on Twitter @AmberLaShaii
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