Rider on the storm: an outtake from the cover shoot for Smokey Robinson’s 1975 album,
A Quiet Storm
.
Jim Britt
UT ON THE ROAD WITH THE Miracles in 1971, Smokey Robinson had had enough. The plan had been to retire following the birth of his son, Berry, in 1968, and settle down with his wife, former Miracle Claudette, bolstered by his salary as the Vice President of Motown Records and substantial royalties he’d received for penning, or co-writing, such landmark Hitsville smashes – landmarks, moreover, in the very art of songwriting – as I Second That Emotion, My Girl, Get Ready, Ain’t That Peculiar and The Tracks Of My Tears.
But the rest of The Miracles depended on that concert money and wanted their leader to stay on the road. It wasn’t an easy decision.