Bobby Rogers, co-founder of the Miracles, dies at 73

Bobby Rogers is pictured as he and the members of the Motown records R&B music group The Miracles were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California in this March 20, 2009 file photograph.

REUTERS - Bobby Rogers, a founding member of the Miracles singing group with Smokey Robinson, died on Sunday at his home in suburban Detroit after a lengthy illness, the Detroit Free Press newspaper said.

Rogers, 73, a member of the Motown group that was formed in the mid-1950s with Robinson, Ronnie White and Pete Moore, was a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"He had a sparkling personality that was loved by everyone," Claudette Robinson, Rogers' first cousin, told the newspaper. "People always commented on the tall one with the glasses."

Rogers died at his home in Southfield, Michigan.

The Miracles had a string of hits including "The Tears of a Clown," "Going to a Go-Go," "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Tracks of My Tears."

Ronnie White died in 1995.

Funeral arrangements for Rogers have not been set, according to the newspaper.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney in New York; Editing by Eric Beech)