ROBERT EDWARD “BOBBY” ROGERS

ROBERT EDWARD “BOBBY” ROGERS (FEBRUARY 19, 1940 – MARCH 3, 2013) WAS AN AMERICAN MUSICIAN, BEST KNOWN AS A MEMBER OF MOTOWN VOCAL GROUP THE MIRACLES FROM 1956 UNTIL HIS DEATH ON MARCH 3, 2013, IN SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN.[1][2] HE WAS INDUCTED, IN 2012, AS A MEMBER OF THE MIRACLES TO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME. IN ADDITION TO SINGING, HE ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO WRITING SOME OF THE MIRACLES’ SONGS. ROGERS IS THE GRANDFATHER OF R&B SINGER BRANDI WILLIAMS FROM THE R&B GIRL GROUP BLAQUE.
Rogers was the son of Robert and Lois Rogers. He was born in Detroit on February 19, 1940, the same day and in the same Detroit hospital as fellow Miracles member Smokey Robinson, although the two would not meet until 15 years later.
On December 18, 1963 Rogers married Wanda Young, of Inkster, Michigan, a member of the Motown group the Marvelettes. They had two daughters together and divorced in 1975 after twelve years of marriage. In 1981, Rogers married Joan Hughes on his forty-first birthday. The wedding ceremony was officiated by the Reverend Cecil Franklin, older brother of Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin), at Detroit’s historic New Bethel Baptist Church.
Bobby and Joan had four children (Bobbae, Gina, Kimberly and Robert III) who are now grown adults. In his final years, Rogers divided his residence between his primary dwelling in Southfield, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit, and a Beverly Hills, California pied-à-terre