Lewis Ronald McNeir (born December 14, 1951) is an American

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and songwriter.

Biography

McNeir was born in Camden,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. As a solo artist, he recorded for the De-to, RCA, Prodigal, Motown, Capitol, Expansion and Motor City labels, recording his first song when he was seventeen. His friendship with

Kim Weston Kim Weston (born December 20, 1939) is an American soul singer, and Motown alumna. In the 1960s, Weston scored hits with the songs "Love Me All the Way" and " Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)", and with her duet with Marvin Gaye, " ...

, for whom he was musical director, led to his recording for

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, then for moonlighting Motown Vice-President Barney Ales, the owner of the Prodigal label. When Ales went back to Motown, McNeir became a Motown artist, recording the 1976 album "Love's Comin' Down". He would later duet with

Teena Marie Mary Christine Brockert (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010), known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before ...

on the song "We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This" from her 1984 Epic album, ''Starchild'' and serve as the musical director for

The Four Tops ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

for several years. He became an official member of the Tops in 1999 when lead singer

Levi Stubbs Levi Stubbs (born Levi Stubbles, June 6, 1936 – October 17, 2008) was an American baritone singer, widely known as the lead vocalist of the R&B group the Four Tops, that released a variety of Motown hit records during the 1960s and 1970s. He ...

was too ill to continue singing with the group. He has been with the group ever since. He also was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Gospel Music category in 1981 for his collaboration with

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. In 2007, he released ''Ronnie Mac & Company,'' which featured collaborations with

Kirk Whalum Kirk Whalum (born July 11, 1958) is an American R&B and smooth jazz saxophonist and songwriter. Whalum has recorded a series of commercially and critically acclaimed solo studio albums. Along with several film soundtracks, with music ranging fro ...

, Kathy Lamar and fellow Four Top

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. Throughout his career, Ronnie has also worked with

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack ( ; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's ...

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Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he ...

Angela Winbush Angela Lisa Winbush (born January 18, 1955) is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who rose to fame first in the 1980s R&B duo René & Angela, also scoring hits as a solo artist. To date, Winbush has sold over ...

the Whispers The Whispers are an American vocal group from Los Angeles, California. Scoring hit records since the late 1960s, they are best known for their two number-one R&B singles, " And the Beat Goes On" in 1979 and " Rock Steady" in 1987. The Whispers ...

Carrie Lucas Carrie Lucas (born October 1, 1945) is an American R&B singer, born in Carmel, California. In 1976, she was signed to Soul Train Records. Lucas released six studio albums over seven years, with Soul Train and Solar Records. Lucas was marrie ...

and

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American tenor singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temp ...

Discography

Studio albums *''Ronnie McNeir (Ronnie McNeir album), Ronnie McNeir'' (LP) RCA Victor (1972) / (LP, Album, RE) RCA (1976) / (CD, Album, RE) Dusty Groove America (2008) *''Ronnie McNeir'' (LP) Prodigal (1975) *''Love's Comin' Down'' (LP) Motown (1976) *''The Ronnie McNeir Experience'' (LP) Capitol Records (1984) *''Love Suspect'' (LP) Setting Sun (1985) *''Life & Love'' (CD, Album) Expansion (1989) *''The Best Of Ronnie McNeir'' (CD, Comp) Motorcity Records, Hot Productions (1996) *''Rare McNeir'' (CD, Comp) About Time Records (2) (1996) *''Down In The Neighborhood'' (CD, Album) Expansion (1997) *''The Best Of'' (CD, Album) Expansion (2002) *''Ronnie Mac & Company'' (CD) Jupiter Island Productions (2007) *''I'm Dedicating My Love'' (CD, Album) Motorcity OMP (2007) *''Living My Life'' (CD, Album) Sunset Island Records (2011)

References

External links

* http://www.thefourtops.org/members/ronnie_mcneir.html * http://www.ronniemcneir.com * http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Ronnie%20McNeir.html * http://www.soulexpress.net/deep3_2011.htm#ronniemcneir
Ronnie McNeir 2012 Interview at Soulinterviews.com.
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNeir, Ronnie 1949 births Living people Songwriters from Alabama American male singers Four Tops members People from Camden, Alabama American male songwriters