Spinners on Unsung

Recently the Spinners were on the TV show "unsung". They stated that they grew up in Ferndale, Michigan. In the early history segment of the show, every local place they went to looked to me like Royal Oak Township rather than Ferndale. I had thought that during that time period, the 40's, 50's and 60's, that Ferndale really didn't have a lot of African Americans living there. The Spinners also state that one side of Wyoming was Royal Oak Township, and the other side was Ferndale; which I find perplexing, as I thought that both sides of Wyoming at the Eight Mile junction was Royal Oak Township. I think from a postal standpoint that all of it is Ferndale? Did Royal Oak Township have different borders when the Spinners grew up there?

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Originally Posted by stingbeelee

Recently the Spinners were on the TV show "unsung". They stated that they grew up in Ferndale, Michigan. In the early history segment of the show, every local place they went to looked to me like Royal Oak Township rather than Ferndale. I had thought that during that time period, the 40's, 50's and 60's, that Ferndale really didn't have a lot of African Americans living there. The Spinners also state that one side of Wyoming was Royal Oak Township, and the other side was Ferndale; which I find perplexing, as I thought that both sides of Wyoming at the Eight Mile junction was Royal Oak Township. I think from a postal standpoint that all of it is Ferndale? Did Royal Oak Township have different borders when the Spinners grew up there?

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You have to also remember that when the Spinners were 17, they ran away from home and from everything they had ever known. They were sick and tired of living in a town filled with narrow minds and hate.

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Originally Posted by Bagley

You have to also remember that when the Spinners were 17, they ran away from home and from everything they had ever known. They were sick and tired of living in a town filled with narrow minds and hate.

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Oh Yea! Life ain't so easy when you're a ghetto child!

Allow me to answer your question. For many years, my cousin's grandmother and some of his other relatives lived in "Royal Oak Township." Growing up back in the day, I heard from the mouths of people who lived in RO Township say that they lived in Ferndale. I think it was because Ferndale was the much larger city and Royal Oak Township was basically a few blocks in size or maybe because there was Royal Oak and ROT didn't want folks confused. Who knows....

I love the Spinners but I'm not sure if they would be relevant without Philippe Wynne who generally claimed Cincinnati as his hometown. I'm an absolute Spinners fanatic and I'm 30 so I never got to see them live but I spend a lot of time looking for information on them.

Here's a good video with some autobiographical information:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq5C2...el_video_title