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When Smokey Sings
Few musicians can claim to have influenced and inspired popular culture in quite the way Smokey Robinson has, ever since he founded his first band, The Five Chimes, in 1955. By 1957, the band was called The Matadors and after Smokey met songwriter (and future Motown Records founder) Berry Gordy, Jr., they chose the moniker 'The Miracles,' a name that was to stick for decades. And all of us have Smokey to thank for Motown Records; he suggested to Berry Gordy that he start a label of his own.
The Miracles were Motown's (originally called 'Tamla') first musical act. Smokey and the Miracles provided Motown with a string of hits and Gordy soon made Smokey a vice-president, where he remained as long as Gordy remained with the company. The first #1 hit for the Miracles on Motown Records was Shop Around, composed by Gordy and Smokey. Over the years, other hits included The Tracks of My Tears, Going to a Go-Go and I Second That Emotion. Smokey also penned such hits (among dozens of others) as Ain't That Peculiar (Marvin Gaye), Don't Mess With Bill (The Supremes) and Get Ready (Martha Reeves). Smokey was the primary songwriter and producer of the Temptations from 1963-1966.
Around 1969, Smokey planned to quit the Miracles so he could stay at home with his family, which now included wife Claudette, son Berry and daughter Tamla, and concentrate on his job as vice-president of Motown. The unexpected success of The Tears of a Clown, which went to #1 in both the US and the UK, convinced Smokey to stay with the band. He did leave, however, after a six-month farewell tour in 1972. Smokey gave his final performance as a Miracle on July 16, 1972 at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre in Washington, DC., during which he introduced the new lead singer, Billy Griffin.
Smokey's solo career included hits such as Baby That's Backatcha, Cruisin' and Being With You. He continued on as vice-president of Motown until the label was sold to MCA. He released one last album for Motown, Love, Smokey. In 1988, Smokey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also won a Soul Train Music Award for Career Achievement, a Grammy Living Legend Award and has a berth in the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. In December, 2006, he will be honored by the Kennedy Center for his lifetime achievement to American culture through the performing arts.
Get a touch of your own Timeless Love. Buy Smokey's new album, featuring classics by Gershwin and Porter, as well as by Smokey himself. Click here to buy.
Want more Smokey? Tour updates, music clips and lots, lots more. Click here.
The album Timeless Love, which features I Love Your Face, the gorgeous ballad John and Marlena danced to, was released in June, 2006. On Timeless Love, Smokey puts his stamp on some of the most romantic of jazz, big band and traditional pop standards of the '20s, '30s and '40s. Among the songs Smokey tackles are I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Baby), popularized by the likes of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Billie Holiday, and Tea For Two, the hit from the musical No, No, Nanette.
Smokey and the Miracles previously recorded two of the classics featured on this album: Speak Low and I've Got You Under My Skin on their album I'll Try Something New in 1962. The most recent song on Timeless Love was penned by another lauded tunesmith--Smokey Robinson. I Love Your Face premiered on his 1992 album, Double Good Everything.
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