Billy Griffin
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| Billy Griffin | |
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 A compilation of solo works for the Motorcity label, 1996
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Griffin |
| Origin | Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
| Genre(s) | R&B, soul, pop, disco |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Label(s) | Motown, CBS, Atlantic, Motorcity, Expansion |
| Associated acts | The Miracles |
| Website | http://www.myspace.com/billygriffin |
Wiliam "Billy" Griffin (born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA) is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for replacing Smokey Robinson as lead singer of Motown act The Miracles in the 1970s.
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[edit] Biography
Griffin was twenty years of age when he joined The Miracles - his bandmates Ronald White, Pete Moore, and Bobby Rogers were all at least a decade older. Griffin officially joined the group after its final concert with Robinson at the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Washington, DC on July 16, 1972. Like Robinson before him, Grifin co-wrote many of the Miracles' songs, in addition to singing lead (Griffin and Moore wrote all of the Miracles' 1975 LP, City of Angels. During his tenure with the group, they recorded two successful hits: the #13 pop single "Do It Baby" in 1973, and the Miracles' most successful single, the number-one hit "Love Machine", in 1975. Griffin also sung lead on "Don't Cha Love It", a Billboard Top 10 R&B single.
The Miracles left Motown in 1976, signing with Columbia Records. After two albums for Columbia, Griffin and Pete Moore decided to retire from performing and focus on songwriting. In 1982, Griffin released his first solo album, Be With Me, which yielded the UK Top 20 hit "Hold Me Tighter in the Rain". The following year, Respect yielded the club hit "Serious". After a third album with Leon Ware, Griffin switched label to Atlantic Records but despite completing an album, only one single "Believe It or Not" was released there before he was left without a contract.
In 1989, Griffin joined UK producer Ian Levine's Motown-reunion project Motorcity Records, and was the first to release a single on the label ("First in Line"). Griiffin also fronted a Miracles reunion with a new recording of "Love Machine". Griffin became a much featured writer and backing vocals arranger for several of the other artists, but despite recording a large number of tracks himself, his album Technicolour (the single by the same name being a tribute to Marvin Gaye) never saw the light of day before the label collapsed in 1992. Most of his Motorcity recordings, however, were released on the 1996 compilation Best Of Billy Griffin.
In the meantime, Levine and Griffin also landed a couple of hit singles for UK soul band The Pasadenas and co-produced Take That's debut album, which including the hit singles "Could It Be Magic" (UK #3) and "I Found Heaven" (UK #15). They also worked with Levine's boy band Bad Boys Inc.
Griffin has written songs and sung backing vocals for the likes of Aretha Franklin, The O'Jays, Ronald Isley, Freda Payne, Edwin Starr, Evelyn Champagne King, Herb Alpert, Martine McCutcheon, The Emotions and many others. In 2006, Griffin released his latest solo album, Like Water.
[edit] Solo discography
[edit] Albums
- 1982: Be With Me
- 1983: Respect
- 1985: Systematic
- 1992: Technicolour
- 1996: The Best Of Billy Griffin - The Very Best Of The Motorcity Recordings
- 2006: Like Water
[edit] Singles
- 1982: "Hold Me Tighter in the Rain"
- 1983: "Serious"
- 1986: "Believe It or Not"
- 1989: "First in Line"
- 1991: "Technicolour"
- 1992: "True Confessions"
