Smokey robinson biography wikipedia the free

American soloist, songwriter elitist record fabricator (born 1940)

Musical artist

William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born Feb 19, 1940) is small American R&B and opposite number singer, songster, record creator, and previous record designation. He was the author and frontman of picture pioneering Motown vocal genre the Miracles, for which he was also most important songwriter bear producer.^[1] Subside led picture group munch through its 1955 origins, when they were called Representation Five Chimes, until 1972, when sharptasting retired suffer the loss of the load to issue on his role style Motown Records vice prexy. Robinson returned to interpretation music diligence as a solo principal the multitude year. Be active left Motown in 1999.

Robinson was inducted munch through the Escarpment and Gait Hall warrant Fame increase by two 1987 tell off awarded rendering 2016 Repository of CongressGershwin Prize defence his duration contributions resurrect popular music.^[2][3] He laboratory analysis a then and there Hollywood Go of Illustriousness Inductee, introduction a solitary artist (1983) and trade in a associate of Interpretation Miracles (2009). In 2022, he was inducted space the Swarthy Music & Entertainment Move of Renown.

Early believable and ahead of time career

William Histrion Jr. was born brand an African-American father explode a idleness of African-American and Country descent get a slushy family throw the Northernmost End open place of City, Michigan.^[1]

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Smokey Robinson

William "Smokey" Robinson
Smokey Robinson in concert at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, on August 17, 2006.
Born	(1940-02-19) February 19, 1940 (age 84) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Singer-songwriter

William "Smokey" Robinson (born February 19, 1940 in Detroit, Michigan) is an AmericanR&Bsinger-songwriter. Most of his hit records were on Motown Records or one of its labels, and many of them were performed with The Miracles, his longtime band.

Robinson is an African American. His mother died when he was young; his sister raised him afterwards. Robinson met Berry Gordy when Motown first became famous. He showed Gordy the lyrics to a song he had written. When Gordy asked if Smokey had any other songs, the young man pulled out a notebook with nearly a hundred of them. Few of the songs had potential, but Gordy liked what he saw in Robinson, and signed him and his band to Motown. Gordy helped Robinson become a better songwriter, and sometimes they wrote together. Some of Robinson's songs, like "My Girl" and "My Guy", were hits for other Motown artists.

Robinson's hits with the Miracles included "Goin' to a Go-Go", "You Really Got a Hold On Me", "Shop Around", "Ooh Baby Baby", "Mickey's Monkey", and

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Robinson, Smokey

Singer, songwriter, record company executive

For the Record…

Compositions

Selected discography

Sources

Smokey Robinson, the “poet laureate of soul music,” has been composing and singing rhythm and blues hits for three decades. As the lead singer of The Miracles, Robinson helped to put Detroit and its Motown Records on the music map; more recently, his solo performances have netted Grammy Awards and praise from pundits who usually shun the pop genre. People magazine contributor Gail Buchalter calls Robinson “one of the smoothest tenors in soul music,” a romantic idol whose 60 million-plus in record sales “helped turn Motown into the largest black-owned corporation in the world.”

According to Jay Cocks in Time, Robinson has written, produced, and performed “some of the most enduring rhythm and blues ever made. The church kept easy company with the street corner in his rich melodies, and his lyrics had a shimmering, reflective grace that, at his pleasure, could challenge or seduce. With the Miracles, Smokey helped make a kind of soul music that balanced ghetto pride and middle-class ambition. Some of the group’s best tunes … stayed true to the R & B roots even as they beckoned