Smokey Robinson Summary

Robinson, Smokey (1940—) William "Smokey" Robinson did more to define the Motown sound than anyone except founder Berry Gordy. Involved in all facets of the operation—songw... Read more

Motown star Smokey Robinson (born 1940), cofounder of the Tamla record label, has been a composer and performer for more than 30 years.Smokey Robinson, the "poet laureate of soul music," has been comp... Read more

Critical Essay by Paul Gambaccini On first listen ["The Tears of a Clown" is] a certain smash…. A circus atmosphere is established by the opening phrase that works as effectiv... Read more

Critical Essay by Simon Frith The Temptations had been around Motown in one form or another for a couple of years, but it wasn't until 1963 that they settle on the line-up of Eddie Kendricks a... Read more

Critical Essay by John Rockwell Smokey's Family Robinson is hardly a concept album in the more labored sense of the term. But it makes sense as a whole, the songs linked by musical style and t... Read more

Critical Essay by David Dalton and Lenny Kaye The early years of Tamla-Motown belonged to Smokey Robinson, whose Miracles not only established the company as a major force (with "Shop Around&#... Read more

Critical Essay by Richard Williams ["Let Me Be Your Clock" is] closely tied to Smokey's Sixties idiom. Cast in the beseeching slow-drag mould of "The Tracks Of My Tears&#x... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Palmer Smokey Robinson is one of those perennials whose creativity and staying power contradicts the notion that pop music, and especially the pop music of the rock-and-roll ... Read more

Critical Essay by Joe Mcewen and Jim Miller Most of Motown's roster consisted of Detroit acts unearthed at local talent shows; here as elsewhere, Smokey Robinson's Miracles set the patt... Read more

Critical Essay by Stephen Holden Smokey Robinson is that rare pop singer whose rhapsodic lyricism hasn't diminished with approaching middle age. Indeed, time has added a metaphysical depth to ... Read more

Critical Essay by Mitchell Cohen Being With You is marked with the rapturous possibilities and elegance of expression that characterized the finest 60's work of the Miracles. Three of the four... Read more

Critical Essay by David Morse Robinson's songs are immediately identifiable by their unusual structure, their unexpected rhythmic emphases, their slowly moving, terraced chords,… and th... Read more

Critical Essay by Mark Vining A friend urged [Smokey Robinson and the Miracles: 1957/1972] on me with the recommendation that, though he was not a Miracles fan, it gave him chills…. [The] m... Read more