Ronald Norman Miller (October 5, 1932 – July 23, 2007)[1] was an American popular songwriter and record producer who wrote for Motown artists in the 1960s and 1970s and attained many Top 10 hits.
Ron Miller was described by his daughter Lisa as "a young, Jewish songwriter with a very Rodgers & Hammerstein musical theater writing style" who "wrote of peace and hope for a better tomorrow during a time of war and the Civil Rights Movement.
Ron Miller served in the U.S. Marines and then sold washing machines before he was discovered by Motown founder Berry Gordy while playing in a bar.
[3] Miller collaborated with composer Bryan Wells on some other Stevie Wonder hit songs, such as "A Place in the Sun", "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" and the holiday anthem "Someday at Christmas", which was later covered by many other artists, including Justin Bieber.
[3] With lyrics by Miller and compositions by Tom Baird, Cherry was launched in 1970 as a musical version of William Inge's Bus Stop but never made it to Broadway.
[3] Adapted from the same-titled play by Richard Wright and Louis Sapin, the Daddy Goodness musical ran into severe trouble while still in tryouts on the road in Philadelphia and Washington D.C., where it closed without ever getting to Broadway, even though it had been scheduled to open on the Great White Way at the Winter Garden Theatre on October 25, 1979.
Ron Miller died on July 23, 2007, of cardiac arrest at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center, after a long battle with emphysema and cancer.