Song:Bad Girl
Album:The Doo Wop Box II
I am willing to bet that most Motown fans have never heard this very early and obscure song by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. If I played this for you without telling you who it is, you would never know. Bad Girl was actually released before Berry Gordy started Motown. Of course William "Smokey" Robinson (born Feb. 19, 1940 in Detroit) is a legend of popular music as a singer, songwriter and producer. In 1955, he started the doo wop group The Five Chimes with childhood pals Ronald White & Pete Moore. They changed their name to The Matadors and brought in cousins Emerson & Bobby Rogers. Emerson was drafted and was replaced by his sister and Robinson's future wife Claudette Rogers. They added guitarist Marv Tarplin in 1958. The Matadors auditioned for Jackie Wilson's manager. He thought they were too similar to The Platters but Berry Gordy liked them and became their manager. Gordy was writing songs for Wilson at the time and he and Robinson started writing together. Gordy thought the name The Matadors was too masculine so he changed it to The Miracles and Bad Girl was the first Robinson song to be released. They had a contract with End Records but Gordy licensed Bad Girl to Chess Records and though it charted on the singles chart at #93, Gordy would become dissatisfied with the return he was getting by licensing the music and this would lead to the start of Motown in 1959. Of course Robinson would have his first #1 hit in 1960 with Shop Around and was named vice president of Motown in 1961. But his vocal abilities shine through on Bad Girl and you can hear it on Rhino's 4CD Doo Wop Box II. Here's a video for Bad Girl by The Miracles.
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