| Smokey
Robinson, the all-time number-one
purveyor of mainstream romantic soul.
With the Miracles in the 1960s, he paced
dozens of tuneful Motown hits with his
beautiful high tenor. As a solo
performer from the 1970s onward, he was
one of the staples of urban contemporary
music. But his singing gifts, as notable
as they are, comprise only one of his
hats: he's also one of pop's best and
most prolific songwriters. As a
songwriter and producer, he was the most
important musical component to Motown's
early success, not only on the hits by
the Miracles, but for numerous other
acts as well (especially Mary Wells and
the Temptations).
Robinson first crossed paths with
Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. in the
late '50s in Detroit. In retrospect,
this may have been the most important
meeting in both men's lives. Robinson
needed a mentor and an outlet for his
budding talents as a singer and
songwriter; the ambitious Gordy needed
someone with multi-faceted musical
vision. Gordy encouraged and polished
Robinson's songwriting in particular in
the early days, in which the Miracles
were one of many acts bridging the
doo-wop and early soul eras.
Before solidifying their relationship
with the embryonic Motown operation, the
Miracles issued a few singles on the End
and Chess labels, the most successful of
which was "Got a Job." There was no
national action for the Miracles until
"Shop Around" in late 1960. Gordy
withdrew the original single in favor of
a faster, more fully produced version of
the song; it made number two, doing much
not only to establish the Miracles, but
to establish the Motown label itself.
The song also heralded many of the
important elements of the Motown sound,
with its gospel-ish interplay between
lead and backup vocals, its rhythmic
groove, and its blend of R&B and pop.
While Robinson is most often thought
of as a romantic balladeer, the Miracles
were also capable of grinding out some
excellent up-tempo party tunes,
particularly in their early days.
"Mickey's Monkey" (which the group gave
an athletically electrifying performance
of in the 1964 T.A.M.I. Show movie), a
1963 Top Ten hit, is the most famous of
these; there was also "Going to a Go-Go"
and smaller hits like "I Gotta Dance to
Keep From Crying." The 1962 Top Ten hit
"You've Really Got a Hold on Me,"
however, was the key cut in forming
Robinson's romantic persona, with its
pleading, soaring vocals, exquisite
melody, and carefully crafted lyrics.
Bob Dylan was impressed enough by
Robinson's facility for imaginative
wordplay to dub him "America's greatest
living poet" (a phrase which has
possibly become the most quoted example
of one rock giant praising another).
Surveying Robinson's achievements
during the 1960s, one wonders if the man
ever slept. While the Miracles were
never Motown's biggest act at any given
time, they were one of its very most
consistent, entering the Top 40 25 times
over the course of the decade. "I Second
That Emotion," "The Love I Saw in You
Was Just a Mirage," "The Tracks of My
Tears," "Ooo Baby Baby," and "Baby, Baby
Don't Cry" were some of their biggest
singles, and usually represented Motown
at its most sophisticated and urbane.
Robinson also was extremely active at
Motown as a songwriter and producer for
other acts. The number one singles "My
Guy" (Mary Wells) and "My Girl"
(Temptations) were each Robinson songs
and productions (the latter with fellow
Miracle Ronnie White), and Robinson also
did some excellent work with the
Marvelettes and Marvin Gaye. He also
toured with the Miracles, and started a
family with the Miracles' female singer,
Claudette Rogers, whom he married in
1964. Rogers stopped touring with the
group in the mid-'60s, although she
continued to sing on their records.
Starting in 1967, the billing on
Miracles releases was changed to Smokey
Robinson & the Miracles, presaging
Robinson's solo career. The group
continued to spin out hits until the
early '70s, however, getting their only
number one in 1970 with the upbeat "The
Tears of a Clown" (which had actually
been recorded back in 1966). Robinson
left the group to go on his own in 1972;
the Miracles continued without him with
limited success, although they had a
number one hit in 1976 with "Love
Machine, Pt. 1."
Robinson had been made a vice
president at Motown near the beginning
of his career in 1961. He recorded
frequently as a solo artist for Motown
in the '70s and '80s, in a considerably
mellower vein than his Miracles work, in
keeping with the general shift of Motown
and soul toward urban contemporary.
Robinson, in fact, provided that genre
with one of its catch phrases with the
title of his 1975 album, A Quiet Storm.
"Cruisin'" (1979) and "Being With You"
(1981) were his biggest solo hits,
although artistically and commercially
his solo era wasn't nearly as successful
as his music with the Miracles. |
