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Ronnie White

American singer (1939–1995)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ2117822 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ronald Anthony White (April 5, 1938 – August 26, 1995) was an American baritone singer, best known as the co-founder of the Miracles and its only consistent original member. White was also known for bringing Stevie Wonder to the attention of Motown Records and writing several hit singles for the Miracles as well as other artists including the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and Mary Wells. White died of leukemia in 1995, at 57 years old. In 2012, White was a posthumous inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with The Miracles.

Biography

Born in Detroit, White began his friendship with fellow Miracles co-founder Smokey Robinson when they were kids. The pair started singing together when White was 12 and Robinson was 11. They were soon joined by a third boy, Pete Moore, and in 1955, the trio formed a quintet called The Matadors, with Bobby Rogers and his cousin Emerson "Sonny" Rogers. The group changed its name to The Miracles after Sonny was replaced by his sister Claudette Rogers, of the related group the Matadorettes.

The quintet began working with Berry Gordy following a failed audition with Brunswick Records and soon found fame after signing with Gordy's Motown label under the Tamla subsidiary. During the group's early years, White and Robinson performed several songs as the duo Ron & Bill.

Editorial summary

“Ronnie White” enters the record as american singer (1939–1995). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ronnie, White and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1938, 1995, 2012, 1955—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1939-04-05. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Ronnie, White and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Ronnie White” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ronnie, White and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2117822. VIAF identifies the subject as 44483473. The Library of Congress control number is n2017055354. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938, 1995, 2012 and 1955.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ronnie White”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ronnie White primary sources, Ronnie White archive and Ronnie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ronnie White”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ronnie White” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.