But, of course, after the two years that's just when we were really getting started. We started with Mr. Gordy in 1957. Motown didn't actually begin till two years after that – that was 1959. Our first record was released February 19, 1958 which coincidentally happens to be both Bobby's and Sophie's birthday. They were born same day, same year, same hospital but they didn't meet until they were teenagers.
So that was the beginning of meeting Mr. Gordy and the start of the group The Matadors – which eventually became The Miracles when Motown began. I shouldn't say when Motown began – I retract that. We became The Miracles when we recorded our very first record at a job. That was actually on the End record label out of New York. George Goldner was the owner at the time.
What inspired the name change? How did you come up with the name?
The name change was actually done because of the fact that The Matadors seem to reflect that fact the group was all men and they were trying to get a name that would fit for both males and females. We considered several names and they were all placed into a hat. We all took turns pulling a name out, and I pulled "The Miracles." I guess it was the luck of the draw. And "The Miracles" was the name everyone thought would be a better name for our group.
Motown was well-known for its investment in the development of its artists. Can you give a little bit of detail about how The Miracles developed as a group?
Actually, for The Miracles, we started our own personal development because you have to remember when we were there as a group starting out, going to do the shows starting in '58, there was no Motown. There was no artist development at that time. So we learned from other groups, from other people on the road, watching and observing and trying to better whatever we were doing at that time.
Our first show was a disaster at The Apollo. The gentleman that had booked us actually called Mr. Gordy to see if he could get his money back. We were pretty green. We thought we had it but our experience was so limited in terms of knowing what people really, really wanted. We were with a very difficult audience in terms of they either loved you or they did not.
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