Billy Griffin
Encyclopedia
Billy Griffin is an American
singer and songwriter
. He is best known for replacing Smokey Robinson
as lead singer of The Miracles
in 1972.
wrote all of the Miracles' 1975 platinum
selling album
, City of Angels
). During his tenure with the group, they recorded three hits
: the #13 Billboard Hot 100
single
"Do It Baby" in 1973, and the Miracles' most successful single, the number-one
hit "Love Machine
", in 1975. Griffin also sung lead on "Don't Cha Love It", a Top 10 R&B
number 1 single.
The Miracles left Motown in 1976, signing with Columbia Records
. After two albums for Columbia, Griffin and Moore decided to retire from performing and focus on songwriting
. In 1982, Griffin released his first solo
album, Be With Me, which yielded the UK Singles Chart
Top 20 hit "Hold Me Tighter in the Rain". The following year, Respect yielded the club
hit, "Serious" which peaked at #64 in the UK
chart
. After a third album with Leon Ware
, Griffin switched record label
to Atlantic Records
but despite completing an album, only one single "Believe It or Not" was released there before he was left without a recording contract
.
In 1989, Griffin joined UK
record producer
Ian Levine
's Motown-reunion project Motorcity Records
, and was the first to release a single on the label
, "First in Line". Griiffin also fronted a Miracles reunion with a new recording of "Love Machine". Griffin became a much featured writer and backing vocals arranger for several of the other artists, but despite recording a large number of tracks himself, his album Technicolour (the single by the same name being a tribute to Marvin Gaye
) never saw the light of day before the label collapsed in 1992. Most of his Motorcity recordings, however, were released on the 1996 compilation Best Of Billy Griffin.
In the meantime, Levine and Griffin also landed a couple of hit singles for the UK soul band The Pasadenas
and co-produced Take That
's debut album, which including the hit singles "Could It Be Magic
" (UK #3) and "I Found Heaven
" (UK #15). They also worked with Levine's boy band
, Bad Boys Inc
.
Griffin has written songs and sung backing vocals
for Aretha Franklin
, The O'Jays
, Ronald Isley
, Freda Payne
, Edwin Starr
, Evelyn Champagne King, Herb Alpert
, Martine McCutcheon
, The Emotions
and many others. In 2006, Griffin released his latest solo album, Like Water. Griffin can be seen performing "Do It Baby" and "Love Machine" with The Miracles on the Motown/Universal DVD
release: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles : The Definitive Performances 1963-1987
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. However, in a decision that has since sparked much scrutiny, debate, and controversy, Griffin, and the other members of The Miracles, Bobby Rogers
, Ronnie White, Pete Moore
, Marv Tarplin
, and Claudette Robinson, were not. The Miracles met the qualifications, as did Robinson, but they have not to date been inducted. Controversy of the nomination process and rules for induction remains.
Griffin was, however, honored with the other Miracles, when the group received a Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame
on March 20, 2009.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. He is best known for replacing Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
as lead singer of The Miracles
The Miracles
The Miracles are an American rhythm and blues group from Detroit, Michigan, notable as the first successful group act for Berry Gordy's Motown Record Corporation . Their single "Shop Around" was Motown's first million-selling hit record, and the group went on to become one of Motown's signature...
in 1972.
Biography
Like Robinson before him, Griffin co-wrote many of the Miracles' songs, in addition to singing lead. Griffin and original Miracles member Pete MoorePete Moore
Pete Moore is an African American soul singer, record producer, and songwriter, notable as the bass singer for Motown group The Miracles from 1955 onwards, and is one of the group's original members...
wrote all of the Miracles' 1975 platinum
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
selling album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, City of Angels
City of Angels (album)
City of Angels is an album by the Motown soul group The Miracles, released on Motown Records' Tamla label in September 1975. The group's fourth album recorded after replacing lead singer Smokey Robinson with Billy Griffin in 1972, City of Angels is a concept album, depicting of a man from "Anytown,...
). During his tenure with the group, they recorded three hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
: the #13 Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Do It Baby" in 1973, and the Miracles' most successful single, the number-one
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
hit "Love Machine
Love Machine (The Miracles song)
"Love Machine" is a 1976 number-one single recorded by Motown group The Miracles, taken from their album City of Angels. This single was one of two Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits recorded by The Miracles with Billy Griffin as lead vocalist; the other is 1973's "Do It Baby". Griffin had replaced...
", in 1975. Griffin also sung lead on "Don't Cha Love It", a Top 10 R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
number 1 single.
The Miracles left Motown in 1976, signing with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. After two albums for Columbia, Griffin and Moore decided to retire from performing and focus on songwriting
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. In 1982, Griffin released his first solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
album, Be With Me, which yielded the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
Top 20 hit "Hold Me Tighter in the Rain". The following year, Respect yielded the club
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
hit, "Serious" which peaked at #64 in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
. After a third album with Leon Ware
Leon Ware
Leon Ware is a soul music singer, songwriter and producer. Best known for crafting the hit album, I Want You, originally recorded for Ware, until friend and Motown icon Marvin Gaye was assigned to the album in 1976...
, Griffin switched record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
to Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
but despite completing an album, only one single "Believe It or Not" was released there before he was left without a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
.
In 1989, Griffin joined UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Ian Levine
Ian Levine
Ian Levine is an English songwriter, producer, and DJ. He is also a well-known fan of the long-running television show Doctor Who.Levine attended Arnold School in Blackpool from 1963 to 1970...
's Motown-reunion project Motorcity Records
Motorcity Records
Motorcity Records is a British record label formed by producer Ian Levine in 1989. The label aimed to record new material with former Motown artists.-History:...
, and was the first to release a single on the label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, "First in Line". Griiffin also fronted a Miracles reunion with a new recording of "Love Machine". Griffin became a much featured writer and backing vocals arranger for several of the other artists, but despite recording a large number of tracks himself, his album Technicolour (the single by the same name being a tribute to Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
) never saw the light of day before the label collapsed in 1992. Most of his Motorcity recordings, however, were released on the 1996 compilation Best Of Billy Griffin.
In the meantime, Levine and Griffin also landed a couple of hit singles for the UK soul band The Pasadenas
The Pasadenas
The Pasadenas were a R&B / pop group from the United Kingdom, best known for their hit songs, "Tribute " and "I'm Doing Fine Now".-Career:...
and co-produced Take That
Take That
Take That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
's debut album, which including the hit singles "Could It Be Magic
Could It Be Magic
"Could It Be Magic" is a song by Adrienne Anderson and Barry Manilow. It was included on Manilow's 1973 debut album, Barry Manilow.Due to its popularity, it was released as a single in 1975, two years after it had originally been recorded, where it reached #6 in the United States.Manilow's...
" (UK #3) and "I Found Heaven
I Found Heaven
"I Found Heaven" is the fifth single taken from Take That's debut album "Take That & Party"- Song information :Written and produced by Billy Griffin and Ian Levine, it was released on August 10, 1992 as the fifth single from the band's debut album Take That & Party . It became the group's second...
" (UK #15). They also worked with Levine's boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
, Bad Boys Inc
Bad Boys Inc
Bad Boys Inc were an English boy band, formed in 1993 by the record producer, Ian Levine. Signed to A&M Records, the members were David W. Ross, Matthew Pateman, Tony Dowding and Ally Begg.-Career:...
.
Griffin has written songs and sung backing vocals
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
for Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, The O'Jays
The O'Jays
The O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1963 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert , Walter Williams , William Powell , Bobby Massey and Bill Isles. The O'Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005...
, Ronald Isley
Ronald Isley
Ronald Isley is an American singer and is known as the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers.-Career:...
, Freda Payne
Freda Payne
Freda Charcilia Payne Some sources give a birth year of 1945, but this appears to be an error as all sources agree that she is older than her sister Scherrie, born 1944. is an American singer and actress best known for her million selling, 1970 hit single, "Band of Gold". She was also an actress in...
, Edwin Starr
Edwin Starr
Edwin Starr was an American soul music singer. Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit "War".-Biography:...
, Evelyn Champagne King, Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert
Herbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...
, Martine McCutcheon
Martine McCutcheon
Martine McCutcheon is an English singer, television personality and Laurence Olivier Award-winning actress. McCutcheon had minor success as one third of the pop group Milan in the early 1990s; however, it was her role as Tiffany Mitchell in BBC's EastEnders that made her a household name in the UK...
, The Emotions
The Emotions
The Emotions are an American all female soul and R&B singing group. The group was formed in its current hometown of Chicago, Illinois originally consisting of the three Hutchinson sisters, all the children of Joseph and Lillian Hutchinson....
and many others. In 2006, Griffin released his latest solo album, Like Water. Griffin can be seen performing "Do It Baby" and "Love Machine" with The Miracles on the Motown/Universal DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles : The Definitive Performances 1963-1987
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame controversy
In 1987, Smokey RobinsonSmokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. However, in a decision that has since sparked much scrutiny, debate, and controversy, Griffin, and the other members of The Miracles, Bobby Rogers
Bobby Rogers
Bobby Rogers is an American soul singer and songwriter, notable as a member of Motown Records' first signed act and first million selling group The Miracles from 1956 to present. He is also the grandfather of R&B singer Brandi Williams from R&B girl group Blaque-Life:Rogers is the son of the late...
, Ronnie White, Pete Moore
Pete Moore
Pete Moore is an African American soul singer, record producer, and songwriter, notable as the bass singer for Motown group The Miracles from 1955 onwards, and is one of the group's original members...
, Marv Tarplin
Marv Tarplin
Marvin "Marv" Tarplin was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known as the guitarist for The Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s. He was one of the group's original members and co-wrote several of their biggest hits, including the 2007 Grammy Hall Of Fame inducted "The Tracks...
, and Claudette Robinson, were not. The Miracles met the qualifications, as did Robinson, but they have not to date been inducted. Controversy of the nomination process and rules for induction remains.
Griffin was, however, honored with the other Miracles, when the group received a Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
on March 20, 2009.
Albums
- 1982: Be With Me
- 1983: Respect
- 1985: Systematic
- 1992: Technicolour
- 1996: The Best Of Billy Griffin - The Very Best Of The Motorcity Recordings
- 2006: Like Water
Singles
- 1982: "Hold Me Tighter in the Rain"
- 1983: "Serious"
- 1986: "Believe It or Not"
- 1989: "First in Line"
- 1991: "Technicolour"
- 1992: "True Confessions"
- 2006: "Like Water"
- 2007: "All The Way To Love"