Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Ron Miller dies at 74 / Diana Ross/ Stevie Wonder/ Celine Dion/ Barbra Streisand /Ray Charles/ Gladys Knight


Ron Miller (songwriter)
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Ronald Norman Miller (c. 1933 - July 23, 2007 [1]) was an American popular songwriter and record producer, who attained many Top 10 hits with ballads written for Motown artists in the 1960s and 1970s.

Miller was born in Chicago and was discovered playing in a bar by Motown founder Berry Gordy.[2]

He supplied a number of songs for Stevie Wonder, including four hit singles, in the period prior to 1971 when Wonder took control of his own recordings.

Miller's single biggest hit song was Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life" which was written on the occasion of his daughter's birth. It is one of the most covered songs in pop history with more than 270 recorded versions. A version recorded by Tony Bennett and Wonder won a Grammy Award in 2007. A version of his song "Heaven Help Us All" by Ray Charles and Gladys Knight won a Grammy Award for best gospel performance in 2005.[3]

He was the husband of Aurora Miller and father of singer Lisa Dawn Miller.


[edit] Selective list of Ron Miller songs
"A Place in the Sun" (Ron Miller, Bryan Wells) – Stevie Wonder, 1966, US #9
"For Once in My Life" (Ron Miller, Orlando Murden) – Stevie Wonder, 1968, US #3
"Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday" (Ron Miller, Bryan Wells) – Stevie Wonder, 1969, US #7
"Heaven Help Us All" (Ron Miller) – Stevie Wonder, 1970, US #9
"Touch Me in the Morning" (Ron Miller, Michael Masser) – Diana Ross, 1974, US #1
"I've Never Been to Me" (Ron Miller, Ken Hirsch) – Charlene, 1982, US #3, UK #1, Canada #1, Australia #1
"If I Could" (Ron Miller, Ken Hirsch, Marti Sharron – Celine Dion, 2004. The album Miracle charted at US #4

[edit] See also
Stevie Wonder discography

[edit] References
^ AP via Sarasota Herald-Tribune "Ron Miller, who wrote 'For Once in My Life,' dies in Calif." July 24, 2007
^ AP via Sarasota Herald-Tribune "Ron Miller, who wrote 'For Once in My Life,' dies in Calif." July 24, 2007
^ AP via Sarasota Herald-Tribune "Ron Miller, who wrote 'For Once in My Life,' dies in Calif." July 24, 2007
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Categories: 2007 deaths | American songwriters | People from Chicago | Songwriter stubs