Bill Benson's findings, published in The Law That Never Was, make a convincing case that the 16th amendment was not legally ratified and that Secretary of State Philander Knox was not merely in error, but committed fraud when he declared it ratified in February 1913.
The group is also listed as the Detroit Spinners and the Motown Spinners, due to their 1960s recordings with the Motown label. These other names were used in the UK to avoid confusion with a British folk group also called The Spinners. In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Spinners were then assigned to the Motown label. In 1964, the Spinners made their debut at the Apollo Theater and won instant acclaim, a rare feat at the time. But with the exception of  I'll Always Love You  (led by Smith), which hit number 35 in 1965, success mostly eluded them during the 1960s.