Smokey Robinson

At 84 years old, Smokey Robinson physical status not available right now. We will update Smokey Robinson's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, composer, record producer, and former record executive.

Robinson was the founder and frontman of the Motown vocal group The Miracles, for whom he was also chief songwriter and producer.

Robinson led the group from its 1955 roots as "the Five Chimes" to 1972, when he announced his resignation from the organization to concentrate on his duties as Motown's vice president.

Robinson, on the other hand, returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year.

Robinson left the firm in 1990 after the acquisition of Motown Records in 1988. Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and received the 2016 Library of Congress Gold Medal for his lifetime contributions to popular music.

Personal life

In 1959, Robinson married Claudette Rogers, a fellow Miracles supporter. Berry Robinson (born 1968), named after Motown's first label designer Berry Gordy; and Tamla Robinson (born 1971), nicknamed after the original "Tamla" label set up by Gordy that would later become Motown.

During his marriage to Claudette, Robinson had a son named Trey (born 1984) with another woman. Robinson eventually filed for divorce after admitting to having fathered a child with a woman other than his wife. In 1986, the divorce was finalized. Robinson and his wife were divorced in 1974; during this time, Robinson participated in an extramarital affair that inspired the song "The Agony & The Ecstasy" (later featured on A Quiet Storm).

In May 2002, Robinson married Frances Gladney. They own a house in Pittsburgh and use it as a winery.

Robinson hasn't eaten red meat since 1972. Transcendental Meditation is his favorite method of meditation. Robinson is known for his golden green eyes, which he believes were passed down from his French great-grandmother.

Source

Early life and early career

In 2012, Robinson explained:

He attended Northern High School, where he was above average academically and a keen sportsman, but he was most interested in music, and he formed the Five Chimes, a doom group. At one time, he and Aretha Franklin lived several houses on Belmont, overhearing her performance of the piano when she first moved to Memphis.

After hearing Nolan Strong & the Diablos and Billy Ward and his Dominoes on the radio as a youth, Robinson's interest in music began, and he has cited Barrett Strong, a Detroit native, as a major influence. He assembled the first lineup of the Five Chimes with childhood friend Ronald White and classmate Pete Moore in 1955.

The Matadors were renamed and included Bobby Rogers in 1957, two years ago. Emerson (Sonny) Rogers, Bobby Rogers' cousin, was replaced by Emerson (Sonny) Rogers (who would marry Smokey Robinson in 1959). Marv Tarplin, the group's guitarist, joined them in 1958. Around this time, the Matadors began touring Detroit theaters. The Miracles were later renamed after being shortened to the Miracles.

Career

After a failed audition for Brunswick Records in August 1957, Robinson and the Miracles met songwriter Berry Gordy. Robinson had brought along a "Big 10" notebook with 100 songs he wrote while in high school at that time. Gordy was awed by Robinson's vocals, and even more so by Robinson's vivacious songwriting. The Miracles' first single, "Got a Job," an answer to the Silhouettes' hit single "Get a Job," on End Records, with his support. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership. Robinson studied electrical engineering and began classes in January 1959. After the Miracles' unveiling of their first record, he dropped out after only two months.

Gordy established Tamla Records, which was later incorporated as Motown. The Miracles became one of the first acts signed to the label, but they had already been with Gordy long before Motown Records was founded. The group's first hit song, "Shop Around," became Motown's first million-selling hit single in late 1960. Robinson would have produced 26 top-five hits with the Miracles between 1960 and 1970, including "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," "Mickey's Monkey," "Baby Baby Don't Cry," and the group's only top-one hit during Robinson's time as lead singer, chief songwriter, and producer, "The Tears of a Clown."

"Ooo Baby," "Going to a Go-God," "The Tracks of My Tears"), "I'm the One You Need," "The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage" and "More Love" were among the top ten hits. When the Miracles debuted their 1965 album Going to a Go-Goo as Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, they were the first Motown band to change their name.

Robinson was also one of Motown's top songwriters and producers, delivering "Life is Mine" and "Mega Loves You," "My Baby Is Treasured by the Game," "My Baby Must Be a Magician" for the Martha Wells; "Get to the Beat" for the Temptations; and "I'm Gone" and "I'm Gone" for Brenda Holloway; and "I'm Gone" and "Get Me To The One of "I" and "I's" and "You" and "Becay's;

After the arrival of Holland–Dozier–Holland and the team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, he was eclipsed as a top writer and producer for the label, and other Motown artists, such as Gaye and Stevie Wonder, began to produce more original content. Robinson wrote lyrics and music for the Contours, as well as the Four Tops' "Still Water" and The Supremes' "Floy Joy" later in his career. The other Miracles, namely Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, Ronnie White, and Marv Tarplin, co-authored many of these hits, and Pete Moore doubled as co-producer with Robinson on several of them.

Robinson wanted to go back to work in the mid-1960s, after Esther Gordy Edwards had left the job by the mid-1960s, but he changed to concentrate on raising his two children with his partner Claudette and on his duties as Motown's vice president. Robinson did not remain with the company until 1972 due to the group's "Tears of a Clown" success. His last appearance with the club was in July 1972 in Washington, D.C., where he was the group's president in July 1972.

Robinson made his comeback with the release of the eponymous Smokey album in 1973, after a year of retirement. "Sweet Harmony" and "Baby Come Close" were two Miracles tribute songs on the album, as well as the hit ballad "Baby Come Close." Robinson's second album, Pure Smokey, was released in 1974, but the album failed to produce hits. During this time, Robinson struggled to compete with his old friends Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and former Temptations member Eddie Kendricks, as both three artists had multiple hit singles.

On his 1976 album Thirty Three & Half as a tribute to Robinson, Beatle George Harrison sang of "Pure Smokey." (Harrison's fellow Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney were both avid supporters of Robinson's songwriting, and the band covered "You Really Gotta Hold On Me" on their second UK album.

With A Quiet Storm, Robinson answered his readers the following year. "Baby That's Backatcha," "The Agony & The Ecstasy," and "Quiet Storm" were among the album's three singles. Robinson's solo career, on the other hand, suffered from his position as Motown's vice president, and his own music took the backseat. As a result, several albums, including Smokey's Family Robinson, Deep in My Soul, Love Breeze, and Smokin, saw poor publicity and low praise. Robinson used to depend on other writers and producers to help him with his albums at this point.

Robinson came out of a writer's slump after his close friend, Marv Tarplin, who joined him on the road in 1973, brought him a song he had written on his guitar. Robinson later wrote the lyrics for his first solo top ten Pop single, "Cruisin." The song debuted at number one in the Cash Box and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also his first solo number one in New Zealand. Robinson's new album, Warm Thoughts, would take a similar route, with another top 40 hit, "Let Me Be the Clock," although it did not repeat "Cruisin'"'s popularity.

Robinson topped the charts in 1981 with another sensual ballad, "Being with You," which was another top-one hit in Cash Box and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It also landed at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the most chart-to-date single. The Gold-plus parent album ignited a collaboration with George Tobin and Tobin, Robinson's next three Motown albums, Yes It's You Lady, which produced the hit "Tell Me Tomorrow," Touch the Sky, and Essar. Robinson teamed up with fellow Motown labelmate Rick James in 1983 to record "Ebony Eyes," a R&B ballad.

Robinson made a comeback with the album, One Heartbeat and the singles, "Just to See Her" and "One Heartbeat," which were Top 10 hits on Billboard's Pop, Soul, and Adult Contemporary charts in 1987, despite a period of personal and professional difficulties. They were aided by popular music videos. In 1988, Robinson received his first Grammy Award for his work "Just to See Her." The album became one of his most popular ever, with over 900,000 copies in the United States alone. Robinson released "When Smokey Sings," the UK group ABC released a tribute song the same year.

In 1988, he was admitted as a solo artist to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, sparking controversy later in the committee's indictment of only Robinson and not members of his group, the Miracles, which Robinson was personally offended by. However, the committee corrected the mistake by announcing that the organization will be inducted on their own merit in 2012. Despite the fact that Robinson was not listed as an inductee, he was set to arrest his former company from the ceremony in April 2012.

Robinson relinquished his post as vice president after Motown was sold off to MCA in 1988. Robinson left Motown for a 1990 contract with SBK Records following the release of Love Smokey's album. Despite this, Double Good Everything, the album's predecessor, fell short of the top charts. Robinson stayed virtually silent during the nineties (although he would make a brief cameback in 1999 and release the album Intimate, which featured the song "Easy to Love").

He broke with Motown in 2003, when he debuts Food for the Soul on Liquid 8 Records in 2004. Robinson performed the main theme theme song "Colorful World" on the American children's animated film ToddWorld for Discovery Kids, TLC, and Mike Young Productions in 2004. On Universal Records, two years later, Robinson released Timeless Love, a standards album released in 2006.

He released Time Flies When You're Having Fun on his own label, Robso Records, in 2009. It reached number 59 on the Billboard album chart, his highest showing since One Heartbeat. "Now And Then" debuted in 2010, the highest ranking in the United States, at number 131.

In mid-August 2014, Smokey & Friends was published. It was an album of duets, with songs by Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor. According to the Billboard album chart, it reached number 12 on the Billboard chart.

Christmas Everyday was Robinson's first post-Miracles Christmas collection, and it was released on November 10, 2017. In 2018, he appeared on an episode of CMT Crossroads with country singer Cam.

Robinson visited Fremont-Lopez Elementary School in Stockton, California, where he worked as a designated arts mentor under Turnaround Arts in April 2017.

Robinson appeared as a special guest on Fox network's show Beat Shazam on July 31, 2018.

Robinson appeared on Anderson Paak's 2019 album Ventura's "Make It Better" track.

Source