{{more citations needed|date=July 2010}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Al Cleveland | image = | caption = | image_size = | birth_name = Alfred W. Cleveland | birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|03|11}} | death_date = {{Death date|1996|08|14}} | origin = | instrument = | genre = {{hlist|Motown|soul|dancehall}} | occupation = | years_active = | label = | associated_acts = | website = }} '''Al Cleveland''' (born '''Alfred W. Cleveland'''; March 11, 1930 – August 14, 1996) was an American songwriter for the Motown label. Among his most popular co-compositions are 1967's "I Second That Emotion" and 1969's "Baby, Baby Don't Cry" performed by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles<ref name="Marsh1999">{{cite book|last=Marsh|first=Dave|title=The heart of rock & soul: the 1001 greatest singles ever made|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OGNPTZplEvQC&pg=PA183|access-date=5 July 2010|date=6 May 1999|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=978-0-306-80901-9|page=183}}</ref> and 1971's "What's Going On" performed by Marvin Gaye.<ref name="Thompson2001">{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Dave|title=Funk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RIEjkWXZdrMC&pg=PA66|access-date=5 July 2010|year=2001|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-0-87930-629-8|page=66}}</ref>
Cleveland was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, to Alfred W. and Dorothy Cleveland. Al has two sisters, Edna Grate and Mamie Jett, as well as one brother, Robert Cleveland. His sons Alfred D Cleveland and Theodore Mills survive him. He had a long and distinguished writing career, initially for New York artists on the Scepter/Wand labels such as Dionne Warwick and Tommy Hunt, as well as Gene Pitney before moving to Motown, where he provided songs for Smokey & The Miracles, The Marvelettes, David Ruffin, the Four Tops and Chuck Jackson before hitting the big time with a co-authorship of Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On?" and "Save the Children."
In later years, he produced Native American music. He died of heart disease in Las Vegas at the age of 66.<ref name="RS #744">{{cite magazine |date=October 3, 1996 |title=Chronicle |magazine=Rolling Stone |publisher=Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. |issue=744 |pages=32 }}</ref>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleveland, Al}} Category:1930 births Category:1996 deaths Category:African-American songwriters Category:Songwriters from Pennsylvania Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh Category:20th-century American composers Category:20th-century American male composers Category:20th-century African-American musicians Category:20th-century American songwriters
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