Claudette Robinson, one of Motown's original Miracles, is star of nostalgic new exhibit

Her voice has appeared on an array of hits, heard by millions around the world.

While Claudette Robinson hasn’t necessarily been a household name, her group — the Miracles — certainly was. And now the Motown Museum is celebrating the legacy of the classy singer, songwriter and stylist known as “the first lady of Motown,” as Berry Gordy Jr. once christened her.

The new exhibit, titled “Claudette Robinson: A Motown Her-Story,” was launched Thursday night with Robinson on hand to share stories and insights on her life and career.

Born Claudette Rogers, she was one of the original five Miracles and was married to group mate Smokey Robinson from 1959 through 1986. She was Motown’s first female artist and was right on the front lines as the company rose to success in the 1960s, boosted by the Miracles’ own run of hits: “Shop Around,” “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” “Mickey’s Monkey,” “Ooo Baby Baby,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” and many more.

“With the Miracles songs, we were all talking about love all the time,” she said Thursday.

Thursday’s unveiling reception drew museum supporters and Motown alumni for an event where Robinson focused as much on her personal hallmarks — family, faith, even her service as a sharpshooter in the U.S. Marine Corps — as on her professional career.

She nostalgically recounted a special night performing at the Michigan State Fair after the 1960 release of “Shop Around,” when Gordy surprised the Miracles onstage with a plaque commemorating 1 million in record sales.

It’s among the milestone moments chronicled in the new exhibit, which features records, vintage articles and rare photos, including a snapshot of Claudette and Smokey’s 1959 wedding. A highlight is the well-preserved skirt-and-jacket combo Robinson wore for the cover shoot of the group’s 1961 debut album, “Hi … We’re the Miracles.”

The Robinson exhibit is on the museum’s upper level in a space that in recent years featured the work of Motown in-house photographer Jim Hendin. It’s just feet away from the iconic sequined glove and black fedora donated to the museum by Michael Jackson in 1988.

The exhibit is the first for the museum’s new associate curator, Kemuel Benyehudah, who worked closely for five months with Claudette Robinson and her daughter Tamla Robinson, drawing from the singer’s personal photo albums and artifacts.

Benyehudah applauded Robinson for being “vulnerable and willing to share your story with me.”

Claudette Robinson was with the Miracles from the get-go in 1957 — the year the group famously and serendipitously met Gordy — and performed live with the group through 1965. It was then, following a series of miscarriages, that she was convinced to discontinue touring.

“I would like everyone to know I didn’t disappear,” she said Thursday. “I will be a Miracle all my life.”

Robinson continued to record with the group in the studio through 1972, by which point she and Smokey had moved the family to Los Angeles.

Long before Smokey became one of the 20th century’s most successful songwriters, he was drawing a $5 weekly stipend from the label when he and Claudette wed in ’59.

“I always say I married him for his money,” she joked Thursday.

Robinson has been on a yearslong mission to boost the Miracles’ legacy — the group ultimately won induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 — and she choked up Thursday as she spoke of the early members who have passed on: Ronnie White, Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore and guitarist Marv Tarplin.

Hosting Thursday’s event was Motown Museum CEO and chairwoman Robin Terry.

“It’s really special when we get the opportunity to not just tell the broader Motown story and the story of Berry Gordy — which so many of us are familiar with — but to really go down and tell what we call a micro-story,” she said. “What better story to tell than the one woman who was in the all-male group called the Miracles?”

Motown arranger and trombonist Paul Riser was among those who paid tribute to Robinson during the event.

“They you call you ‘the first lady of Motown’ not because you were the first woman at Motown — though that’s true — but because you have the class of a first lady,” Riser said.

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

'Claudette Robinson: A Motown Her-Story'

Motown Museum

2648 W. Grand Boulevard, Detroit

Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wed.-Sun.

Tour information and tickets: https://www.motownmuseum.org/

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Claudette Robinson, one of Motown's original Miracles, is star of new exhibit