Covered: Ron Miller: 1966-1993

I decided that before I post any more of Stevie Wonder's "Covered" albums, I should post this one, featuring the songwriting of Ron Miller. In writing the write-up for "Volume 1" of Wonder's "Covered" albums, I tried to explain that many of his 1960s hits weren't actually written by him. It turns out that a bunch of them were written by Miller. So even though he wasn't that prolific, this album is kind of a companion piece to the Steve Wonder "Volume 1" album I posted earlier today.

Miller was born in Chicago in 1932. After working some odd jobs, including selling washing machines, he was discovered by Motown head Berry Gordy while playing songs in a bar. Although he was signed to Motown around 1963, he didn't seem like an obvious good fit. His daughter later wrote that he was "a young, Jewish songwriter with a very Rodgers and Hammerstein musical theater writing style." But Gordy wanted some of his musical acts to move into the supper club circuit that catered to the tastes of mainstream white audiences. For instance, in 1967, the Supremes released an album consisting entirely of Rodgers and Hart covers - the same Rodgers who was part of the Rodgers and Hammerstein duo.

At first, Miller wrote a couple of songs for faux Broadway albums for Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. (Gaye's album was actually called "Hello Broadway.") These songs weren't that good, and not in the typical Motown style, so I didn't include them. One of Miller's apparently failed early songs was "For Once in My Life." Co-written by Orlando Murden, who had no other songwriting success worth noting, it was first released by the obscure Jean DuShon in 1966, and went nowhere. About 15 more musical acts covered it over the next two years, including the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, Tony Bennett, Nanci Wilson, and even Wayne Newton, but none of those versions were hits either.

Then Stevie Wonder gave the song a try in 1967. The song had been written as a slow ballad, and everyone who covered it at first played it that way. However, Wonder gave the song a drastically different upbeat arrangement. Motown head Berry Gordy didn't like it, and vetoed releasing it. But after a full year, he was finally talked into releasing it. It went on to hit Number One in one of the U.S. singles charts, and was a massive hit. It also has become one of the most covered songs of all time, with an estimated 700 versions. 

I mentioned above that Miller wasn't that prolific, at least when it came to conventional soul, pop, or rock songs. He had a whole other career writing songs for musicals, but I didn't really investigate that since he didn't have obvious hits. He generally wrote lyrics, and relied on a variety of co-writers for the melodies. 

If "For Once in My Life" was his only success, there wouldn't have been enough material for even a short album by him. But he had a couple of other massive hits, as well as several minor ones. "Touch Me in the Morning" by Diana Ross seems to have sold even more than "For Once in My Life," also reaching Number One in the U.S., though it hasn't become widely covered. "I've Never Been to Me" was first released as a single by Charlene in 1977, and barely scraped the bottom of the Top 100. But it was rereleased by her in 1982, and for some reason it became a huge smash at that time, reaching Number Three in the U.S., and Number One in Britain and several other countries.

Miller's songwriting successes mostly petered out by the end of the 1970s. However, some of his songs have had long legs with different cover versions. For instance, "If I Could" was first released in 1988, but many big name artists later covered it, such as Celine Dion, who put it on her greatest hits album. He died in 2007 at the age of 74. 

Here's his Wikipedia entry if you want to know more:

Ron Miller (songwriter) - Wikipedia

This album is 42 minutes long.

01 A Place in the Sun (Stevie Wonder)
02 Travelin' Man (Stevie Wonder)
03 Gotta See Jane (R. Dean Taylor)
04 For Once in My Life (Stevie Wonder)
05 Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday (Stevie Wonder)
06 Someday at Christmas (Jackson 5)
07 Heaven Help Us All (Stevie Wonder)
08 Touch Me in the Morning (Diana Ross)
09 Don't Burn Down the Bridge (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
10 I've Never Been to Me (Charlene)
11 Used to Be (Charlene & Stevie Wonder)
12 If I Could (Ray Charles)

https://bestfile.io/ZJAMemYYFi0fC2W/file

I found several color photos of Miller. I don't know the details of the one I picked, such as what year it's from. I used Krea AI to improve and enlarge it. I just have to say, if there was a contest for the Motown songwriter who looked most like Hagrid from the Harry Potter movies, he would have been the easy winner!