More Love
Encyclopedia
"More Love" is a 1967 single recorded by the American soul
group Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
for Motown Records
' Tamla label. The single, included on the group's 1967 album Make It Happen
, later reissued in 1970 as The Tears of a Clown. Kim Carnes
' 1980 cover of the song charted at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson
wrote, produced, and sings lead on "More Love", which he considers one of his most personal compositions. Robinson wrote the song for his wife, Miracles member Claudette Rogers Robinson
. Claudette had been a member of the Miracles since 1957, but retired from touring in 1964 after a series of miscarriages.She had a total of 8 miscarriages, which forced her off the road, never to tour with The Miracles again, though she continued to record with them. On one occasion, the Robinsons had a set of twins that were stillborn
. According to Smokey Robinson:
Unlike most other Miracles songs, the track for "More Love" was recorded by Los Angeles
session musician
s, instead of in Detroit, Michigan
by Motown session band The Funk Brothers
and Miracles guitarist Marv Tarplin
.
Smokey and Claudette Robinson would eventually have two healthy babies, both named after aspects of the Motown corporation: A boy,Berry (after Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr.) and a girl, Tamla, after the Miracles' record label, Tamla ( A Motown Records subsidiary).
More Love peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100
in the United States
, and was a Top 10 Billboard R&B hit,peaking at number five. The song's "B" side, Swept For You Baby,, was also a popular regional hit , and has inspired cover versions by The Sylvers
, The Blenders
, and The Tamlins
(as Sweat For You Baby).
, Barbara McNair
, and Mica Paris
. A 1976 version by Teena Marie is included in the 2011 First Class Love: Rare Tee complilation.
The most successful recording of "More Love" was a 1980 version by Kim Carnes
, included on her album Romance Dance
. Carnes's remake of "More Love" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 (13 chart positions higher than the original), and at number six on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. A Spanish language
version of the song, "Más Amor", was also released in some territories in Latin America
. The single was the first Top 10 U.S. solo hit for Carnes, formerly of The New Christy Minstrels. Despite "More Love's" success, the follow-up single, "Cry Like a Baby", would miss the Top 40, peaking at number 44.
This song would be Carnes' biggest solo hit until Bette Davis Eyes
.
Love" (original recording) by The Miracles 1967
More Love song review - by Joel Francis
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
group Smokey Robinson & 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...
for Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
' Tamla label. The single, included on the group's 1967 album Make It Happen
Make It Happen (Miracles album)
Make It Happen is a 1967 album by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. It featured ballads such as the singles "The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage" and "More Love", as well as the up-tempo "The Tears of a Clown" co-written by Stevie Wonder and his producer Hank Cosby.Three years after the album's...
, later reissued in 1970 as The Tears of a Clown. Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice....
' 1980 cover of the song charted at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Miracles original version
This song's origins are born from real-life heartbreak and personal tragedy .Miracles lead singer 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...
wrote, produced, and sings lead on "More Love", which he considers one of his most personal compositions. Robinson wrote the song for his wife, Miracles member Claudette Rogers Robinson
Claudette Rogers Robinson
Claudette Rogers Robinson is an African-American soul singer, a member of The Miracles from 1957 to 1972. Her brother Emerson "Sonny" Rogers was an original member of the group, which was originally called "The Matadors" before 1957; Claudette Rogers took her brother's place after he was drafted...
. Claudette had been a member of the Miracles since 1957, but retired from touring in 1964 after a series of miscarriages.She had a total of 8 miscarriages, which forced her off the road, never to tour with The Miracles again, though she continued to record with them. On one occasion, the Robinsons had a set of twins that were stillborn
Stillbirth
A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
. According to Smokey Robinson:
"After she had a miscarriage [Claudette] would always tell me she was sorry she had let me down. I would explain that she had not let me down because she was there, she was alive; I wanted the babies, but I didn't know them. I wrote 'More Love' to let her know how I felt about her."
Unlike most other Miracles songs, the track for "More Love" was recorded by Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s, instead of in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
by Motown session band The Funk Brothers
The Funk Brothers
The Funk Brothers was the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972...
and Miracles guitarist 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...
.
Smokey and Claudette Robinson would eventually have two healthy babies, both named after aspects of the Motown corporation: A boy,Berry (after Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr.) and a girl, Tamla, after the Miracles' record label, Tamla ( A Motown Records subsidiary).
More Love peaked at number 23 on the 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...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and was a Top 10 Billboard R&B hit,peaking at number five. The song's "B" side, Swept For You Baby,, was also a popular regional hit , and has inspired cover versions by The Sylvers
The Sylvers
The Sylvers were a popular R&B/soul and disco family group during the 1970s. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, the family would later relocate to Watts, California.- Beginnings :...
, The Blenders
The Blenders
The Blenders are a vocal quartet based in Minneapolis, Minnesota ....
, and The Tamlins
The Tamlins
The Tamlins were a 1970s Jamaican reggae and dub vocal group. Composed of Carlton Smith, Junior Moore, and Derrick Lara, The Tamlins are among the most recognized back-up singers in reggae, especially for their years of international touring in support of Peter Tosh...
(as Sweat For You Baby).
Kim Carnes and other versions
"More Love" has been covered by several performers -- among them Paul YoungPaul Young (singer and guitarist)
Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
, Barbara McNair
Barbara McNair
Barbara McNair was an African American singer and actress.Born Barbara Jean McNair in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, McNair studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago...
, and Mica Paris
Mica Paris
Mica Paris is an English soul singer, radio and television presenter, and occasional actress. Her forename is pronounced Misha.-Beginnings:Paris' roots are in soul and gospel music...
. A 1976 version by Teena Marie is included in the 2011 First Class Love: Rare Tee complilation.
The most successful recording of "More Love" was a 1980 version by Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice....
, included on her album Romance Dance
Romance Dance
Romance Dance is a studio album by Kim Carnes, released in June, 1980 . It followed Carnes' recent duet hit with Kenny Rogers, "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer"....
. Carnes's remake of "More Love" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 (13 chart positions higher than the original), and at number six on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. A Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
version of the song, "Más Amor", was also released in some territories in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. The single was the first Top 10 U.S. solo hit for Carnes, formerly of The New Christy Minstrels. Despite "More Love's" success, the follow-up single, "Cry Like a Baby", would miss the Top 40, peaking at number 44.
This song would be Carnes' biggest solo hit until Bette Davis Eyes
Bette Davis Eyes
"Bette Davis Eyes" is a song written in 1974 by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon and made popular by American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes.-History:...
.
Miracles version
- Lead vocals by Smokey RobinsonSmokey RobinsonWilliam "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...
- Background vocals by Claudette Rogers RobinsonClaudette Rogers RobinsonClaudette Rogers Robinson is an African-American soul singer, a member of The Miracles from 1957 to 1972. Her brother Emerson "Sonny" Rogers was an original member of the group, which was originally called "The Matadors" before 1957; Claudette Rogers took her brother's place after he was drafted...
, Ronnie White, Bobby RogersBobby RogersBobby 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...
, and Pete MoorePete MoorePete 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... - Instrumentation by various Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area musicians
External links
Love" (special mix) by The MiraclesLove" (original recording) by The Miracles 1967
More Love song review - by Joel Francis