The Miracles bridged the worlds of doo-wop and soul with Robinson as their guiding light. After what proved to be a warm-up single called "Way over There," Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' second release for Motown, "Shop Around," established a sound that would cool and caress a generation. It was their first million copy seller. Throughout the 1960s and early '70s, music and musician alike grew in assurance, from elegant ballads to easy throbbing dance numbers like "Mickey's Monkey" and "Going to A-Go-Go." Robinson's activity was not limited to The Miracles. As a generous songwriter and producer, he created "My Guy" for the sassy Mary Wells and "My Girl" for the inimitable Temptations. But it was Robinson's own voice, the silky cooing and wooing of everything from "Ooo Baby Baby" right through the immortal "Tears of a Clown" that forever marked the soundtrack of Baby Boomers' lives.
After Motown's glory days, Robinson continued to thrive on his own. His final hit with The Miracles was 1972's "We've Come Too Far to End it Now" and, like the Supremes' bittersweet "Some Day We'll Be Together," it signaled the end of an era but also the dawn of reinvigorated artistic maturity. Smokey Robinson grew jazzier, perhaps mellower, certainly never a slave to the disco fashion but very much in touch with the pulse of music lovers. His work became more subtle, still yielding unforgettable hits such as "Sweet Harmony" and "Just My Soul Responding." His album "A Quiet Storm" turned out to be the apotheosis of a golden era of R & B even as a new generation's hip-hop and rap was on the horizon. It was with "A Quiet Storm" that Robinson gave notice that smooth, lush and gorgeous ballads could never be out of place in our hearts.
"As a kid, this is what I wanted my life to be," Robinson once said, confessing, "Not in my wildest dreams did I ever dare to dream that it would be this." He was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. In 1991, he won a Soul Train Music Award for Career Achievement. Never one to rest on his laurels, this poet laureate of love released his first Gospel album, "Food for the Spirit," in 2004. In 2006, Howard University conferred on Smokey Robinson an honorary Doctor of Music degree.
After Motown's glory days, Robinson continued to thrive on his own. His final hit with The Miracles was 1972's "We've Come Too Far to End it Now" and, like the Supremes' bittersweet "Some Day We'll Be Together," it signaled the end of an era but also the dawn of reinvigorated artistic maturity. Smokey Robinson grew jazzier, perhaps mellower, certainly never a slave to the disco fashion but very much in touch with the pulse of music lovers. His work became more subtle, still yielding unforgettable hits such as "Sweet Harmony" and "Just My Soul Responding." His album "A Quiet Storm" turned out to be the apotheosis of a golden era of R & B even as a new generation's hip-hop and rap was on the horizon. It was with "A Quiet Storm" that Robinson gave notice that smooth, lush and gorgeous ballads could never be out of place in our hearts.
"As a kid, this is what I wanted my life to be," Robinson once said, confessing, "Not in my wildest dreams did I ever dare to dream that it would be this." He was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. In 1991, he won a Soul Train Music Award for Career Achievement. Never one to rest on his laurels, this poet laureate of love released his first Gospel album, "Food for the Spirit," in 2004. In 2006, Howard University conferred on Smokey Robinson an honorary Doctor of Music degree.
