May 30, 2016

“Legends of Motown: Celebrating The Miracles” at Grammy Museum

The Miracles are the centerpiece of an exhibit at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, celebrating the group’s extraordinary music and its timeless contribution to the Motown legacy. The tribute opened May 13, and will run until summer 2017. Click here for further details.

“Legends of Motown: Celebrating The Miracles” is the Museum’s second exhibit to showcase a Motown act, following the Supremes’ exhibit in 2015. The new presentation features artefacts from the personal collection of Claudette Robinson, a founder member of the group and leader Smokey Robinson’s first wife. These include rare photographs and various performance costumes worn throughout the Miracles’ career. As part of the opening on May 13, Claudette and fellow group member Warren “Pete” Moore took part in a conversation with Grammy Museum curator Nwaka Onwusa.

The Miracles were the initial act to be managed by Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., after he heard them for the first time in 1957. “At first he got us little gigs,” Smokey recalled in his autobiography with David Ritz, Inside My Life. “He couldn’t give us any money, so we bought our own blue suits, which didn’t quite match. Claudette was wearing a white dress with little red flowers.” As part of the Miracles, she was the first female artist to be signed to Motown Records.