Smokey Robinson

William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. was born on February 19, 1940, in the North End area of Detroit, Michigan, to an African-American father and a mother of African-American and French descent. His ancestry also includes Nigerian, Scandinavian, Portuguese, and Cherokee heritage. His parents divorced when he was three years old, and after his mother died when he was ten, he went to live with his older sister Geraldine and her husband. His uncle Claude gave him the nickname "Smokey Joe" when he was a child, a name Robinson traced to his uncle's habit of taking him to cowboy movies. Robinson dropped the "Joe" portion of the nickname around age twelve.

Robinson attended Northern High School in Detroit, where he was an above-average student and athlete, though music remained his primary focus. His interest in the form was sparked in childhood by hearing groups such as Nolan Strong & the Diablos and Billy Ward and his Dominoes on the radio, and he has cited Detroit native Barrett Strong as a vocal influence. In 1955, Robinson formed a doo-wop group called the Five Chimes with childhood friend Ronald White and classmate Pete Moore. The group was later renamed the Matadors and expanded to include Bobby Rogers. Emerson Rogers, Bobby Rogers' cousin, was eventually replaced by his sister Claudette Rogers, whom Robinson married in 1959. Guitarist Marv Tarplin joined the group in 1958, and the ensemble ultimately took the name the Miracles.

In August 1957, Robinson and the Miracles auditioned unsuccessfully for Brunswick Records, but the encounter led to a meeting with songwriter Berry Gordy. Robinson had brought a notebook containing 100 songs he had written in high school, and Gordy was impressed both by his vocals and his songwriting. With Gordy's assistance, the group released their first single, "Got a Job," on End Records. Gordy subsequently formed Tamla Records, later reincorporated as Motown, and the Miracles became one of its earliest signed acts. In late 1960, the group recorded "Shop Around," which became Motown's first million-selling hit. Between 1960 and 1970, Robinson produced 26 top-forty hits with the Miracles as lead singer, chief songwriter, and producer. These included top-ten singles such as "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," "Mickey's Monkey," "I Second That Emotion," "Baby Baby Don't Cry," and the group's sole number-one hit during the Robinson years, "The Tears of a Clown." Additional charting singles including "Ooo Baby Baby," "Going to a Go-Go," "The Tracks of My Tears," and "More Love" reached the top twenty. In 1965, the Miracles became the first Motown group to rename themselves when they released the album Going to a Go-Go under the billing Smokey Robinson & the Miracles.

Alongside his work fronting the Miracles, Robinson served as a major songwriter and producer for other Motown artists between 1962 and 1966. He wrote hits for Mary Wells including "Two Lovers," "The One Who Really Loves You," "You Beat Me to the Punch," and "My Guy." For the Temptations he penned "The Way You Do the Things You Do," "My Girl," "Since I Lost My Baby," "It's Growing," and "Get Ready." His writing credits during this period also included "Still Water (Love)" for the Four Tops, "Don't Mess With Bill," "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game," and "My Baby Must Be a Magician" for the Marvelettes, and "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar" for Marvin Gaye. Other Miracles members, including Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, Ronnie White, and Marv Tarplin, collaborated with Robinson as writers on many of these recordings, and Pete Moore also co-produced several of them. By the mid-1960s, Robinson had taken on the role of Motown vice president following Esther Gordy Edwards' departure from the position.

By 1969, Robinson had expressed a desire to retire from touring in order to raise his two children with Claudette and concentrate on his executive duties at Motown. The commercial success of "The Tears of a Clown" kept him with the group until 1972, and his final performance with the Miracles took place in July of that year in Washington, D.C. After a year away from the industry, Robinson launched a solo career with the 1973 album Smokey, which included the Miracles tribute "Sweet Harmony" and the ballad "Baby Come Close." His 1975 album A Quiet Storm followed, and his solo work continued to generate charting material through subsequent years. Robinson departed Motown in 1999.

Robinson brought his work to Broadway during the 1985–1986 season, appearing in two productions: Smokey Robinson Plus Jean Carne and An Evening with Smokey Robinson. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. His Hollywood Walk of Fame recognitions came in two installments: as a solo artist in 1983 and as a member of the Miracles in 2009. In 2016, he received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for his lifetime contributions to popular music, and in 2022 he was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.