Motown staff songwriter Ron Miller RIP ("For Once In My Life", "If I Could")

[Bluebear]

Ron Miller (L) with Berry Gordy

(PR) Ron Miller, a onetime staff songwriter for Motown who composed such era-defining pop classics as “For Once In My Life,” “Heaven Help Us All,” “Touch Me In The Morning,” “Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday,” “I’ve Never Been To Me” and “If I Could,” died on July 23 in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was 74.

Miller, who had been battling both emphysema and cancer, died of cardiac arrest shortly after 5 a.m. with his daughters, Angel Stratford and singer/songwriter Lisa Dawn Miller, at his side.

On July 21, Miller was presented with the Heroes and Legends Award for lifetime achievement in songwriting and producing, in his room at Santa Monica Hospital with immediate family members and close friends in attendance. The award was given to him by another famed Motown figure, Janie Bradford, who founded the annual awards ceremony as a scholarship fundraiser to assist youths involved in the arts and with furthering their education.

Since signing onto Motown founder Berry Gordy’s staff as one of the company’s first (and only white) songwriters and record producers in the 60s, Miller’s songs have been recorded by thousands of artists worldwide and have sold in the hundreds of millions. His classic standard, “For Once In My Life,” written with Orlando Murden, is one of the most recorded songs in history with early renditions by Judy Garland, Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra joined in recent years by those of younger performers Michael Buble and Harry Connick, Jr.; according to All Music Guide, there are over 270 recorded versions...

Time has to take me
But life will wake me
Whenever people feel the road’s too long
They’ll need some music
And I want to come back as a song - Ron Miller

http://www.antimusic.com/news/07/july/2508.shtml

[Skittles]

1. what a talent!

amazing