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Smokey Robinson

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Smokey Robinson is an American singer, songwriter and producer from Detroit, where he was born in 1940. He got his nickname as a child from an uncle who took him to cowboy films. He grew up in the neighbourhood of Aretha Franklin and listened to doo-wop groups on the radio. In 1955 he started, with school friends, the vocal group that would later be called The Miracles. In 1957 the group auditioned for Berry Gordy. Robinson had a notebook with him containing a hundred songs he had written himself, and Gordy was impressed above all by that.

Music and breakthrough

The Miracles became one of the first acts on Gordy's new label Motown. Shop Around became the label's first million-seller in late 1960. After that came, among others, You've Really Got a Hold on Me, The Tracks of My Tears, I Second That Emotion and The Tears of a Clown. Robinson was a singer, writer and producer all at once. He sang in a high, soft voice and wrote lyrics full of clever wordplay about love and heartbreak. He also wrote hits for other Motown artists: My Guy for Mary Wells, My Girl and The Way You Do The Things You Do for The Temptations, and Ain't That Peculiar for Marvin Gaye.

Influence

Robinson also became a vice president of Motown. In 1972 he left The Miracles and a year later he began a solo career, with albums such as A Quiet Storm (1975) and Being With You (1981). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. As a writer he helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, before Holland-Dozier-Holland largely took over that role.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to My Girl by The Temptations, written by Smokey Robinson. Notice the short bass line and the guitar motif at the start, and how the song then grows fuller, layer by layer, with strings and horns.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also

Categories: ArtistsQuiet storm