"A Fork in the Road" is a 1965

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

song recorded by American R&B singing group

The Miracles The Miracles (also known as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles from 1965 to 1972) were an American vocal group that was the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy's Motown Records, and one of the most important and most influential groups ...

, and written by Miracles members

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

, Pete Moore, and

Ronnie White Ronald Anthony White (April 5, 1939 – August 26, 1995), usually referred to as Ronnie White, was an American singer, best known as the co-founder of The Miracles and its only consistent original member. White was also known for bringing Stevi ...

, on Motown Records' Tamla subsidiary label. (T54118) This song was included as the closing track on the Miracles' 1965 studio LP, ''

Going to a Go-Go ''Going to a Go-Go'' is a 1965 album by the Miracles, the first to credit the group as ''Smokey Robinson and the Miracles''. It includes four of the Miracles' Top 20 hits: "Ooo Baby Baby", "The Tracks of My Tears", " Going to a Go-Go", and "My G ...

'', and was also released as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of their million-selling Grammy Hall of Fame hit single, "

The Tracks of My Tears "The Tracks of My Tears" is a song written by Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin. It is a multiple award-winning 1965 hit R&B song originally recorded by their group, The Miracles, on Motown's Tamla label. The Miracles' million-sell ...

". Though this original version never charted nationally, it was a strong regional hit in many areas of the country and a popular part of the Miracles' live show. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described it as a "tradition-oriented emotion-packed moody

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

er." Nineteen years later, American singer

Rebbie Jackson Maureen Reillette "Rebbie" Jackson-Brown (; born May 29, 1950) is an American singer, actress, and the eldest child of the Jackson family of musicians. She first performed on stage with her siblings during shows in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the MGM ...

recorded the song for her debut album, ''

Centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , " foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an ...

''. Jackson's version was released as a single, and peaked at number 40 on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

. The Miracles' 2002 CD re-release of the Going To A Go Go/Away We A Go Go albums features a never-before released live version of "A Fork in the Road", delivered to an enthusiastic audience response.

Personnel Credits

Personnel: The Miracles

*Lead vocals -

*Background vocals- Claudette Rogers Robinson *Background vocals- Pete Moore *Background vocals-

*Background vocals-

Bobby Rogers Robert Edward Rogers (February 19, 1940 – March 3, 2013) was an American musician and tenor singer, best known as a member of Motown vocal group the Miracles from 1956 until his death. He was inducted, in 2012, as a member of the Miracles to t ...

*Guitar-

Marv Tarplin Marvin Tarplin (June 13, 1941 – September 30, 2011) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s. He was one of the group's original members and co-wrote several of their bigges ...

Other Personnel

*Other instrumentation by

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

References

External links

* * 1965 songs 1985 singles The Miracles songs Rebbie Jackson songs Songs written by Smokey Robinson Songs written by Warren "Pete" Moore Songs written by Ronald White Song recordings produced by Smokey Robinson Tamla Records singles {{1980s-R&B-song-stub