Smokey Robinson Biography
Summary
"William 'Smokey' Robinson, Jr." (born February 19, 1940) is an R&B and soul singer,producer, former record company executive, and songwriter. Robinson is noted for being one of the primary figures associated with the Motown record label, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy. As both a member of Motown group The Miracles and a solo artist, Robinson recorded thirty-seven Top 40 hits for Motown between 1960 and 1987, and also served as the company's Vice President from 1961 to 1988.
Biography
Early years and formation of the Miracles
Smokey Robinson was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan's North End Neighborhood, USA, and when still a child was nicknamed 'Smokey Joe' by an uncle because of his love of cowboy movies. In his teens, this was shortened to 'Smokey'. In 1955, Robinson founded a group he called the "Five Chimes" with his best friend Ronald White, and Northern High School classmates Pete Moore , Clarence Dawson, and James Brice. By 1957, the group was called the "Matadors" and included cousins Emerson and Bobby Rogers in place of Dawson and Grice. Later Emerson was replaced with sister Claudette Rogers who later married Robinson, and guitarist Marv Tarplin joined the group in 1958.
With Robinson as lead singer, the Matadors began touring the local Detroit venues. In 1958, Robinson met songwriter Berry Gordy, who co-wrote for them the single 'Got a Job', an answer song to the Silhouettes' hit single 'Get a Job'. The group renamed itself the "Miracles", and issued singles on both End Records and Chess Records before Robinson suggested to Gordy that he start a label of his own.
In 1959, Gordy founded Tamla Records, which he soon reincorporated as Motown. The Miracles were among the label's first signees. Gordy and Robinson had a synergistic relationship, with Robinson providing a foundation for Motown's hit-making success and Gordy acting as a mentor for the budding singer and songwriter. By 1961, Gordy had appointed Robinson vice-president of Motown Records, a title Robinson held for as long as Gordy remained with the company.
Motown and The Miracles
The 1960 single 'Shop Around' was Motown's first number one hit on the R&B singles chart, and the first big hit for The Miracles.The song was also Motown's first million-selling single. They scored many more hits over the years, including the much-covered 'Who's Loving You' (1960), 'You've Really Got a Hold on Me' (1962), 'What's So Good About Goodbye' (1962), 'Mickey's Monkey' (1963), 'Ooo Baby Baby (1965), 'The Tracks of My Tears' (1965), 'Going to a Go-Go' (1965), (Come Round Here) I'm The One You Need' (1966), 'More Love' (1967), 'I Second That Emotion' (1967), 'If You Can Want' (1968}{}{}{}
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Smokey Robinson.
