Profile via TMDB · Courtesy of TMDB
Smokey Robinson
Sign in to saveAlso known as William 'Smokey' Robinson, Jr., Wm. Robinson, William Robinson, Jr., Bill "Smokey" Robinson
American R&B singer, songwriter and producer (born 1940)
OverviewAI-generated
Smokey Robinson, born William Robinson in Detroit, Michigan, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. A tenor vocalist, he has worked in the soul genre since 1955, with musical styles also categorized as pop soul, quiet storm, and classic pop and rock. Robinson is associated with the Motown record label and has received several major honors, including the National Medal of Arts, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Grammy Legend Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors.
His discography includes works such as *Smokey Robinson*, *The Smokey Robinson Collection (Artist Songbooks Series)*, and *Smokey*. Robinson has also been recognized in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame collection and the Hollywood Walk Of Fame collection. He is a citizen of the United States and speaks English.
Synthesized by Vinony from 42 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1940
- Works
- 3
Top works
- Smokey Robinson
- The Smokey Robinson Collection (Artist Songbooks Series)
- Smokey
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Acting · Detroit, Michigan, USA
William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson was the founder and frontman of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. Robinson led the group from its 1955 origins as "the Five Chimes" until 1972, when he announced a retirement from the group to focus on his role as Motown's…
Known for
- The Greatest Night in Pop — Self2024
- American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special — Self2024
- Beatles '64 — Self2024
- A Motown Christmas — Self2024
- Soul of a Nation Presents: Black in Vegas — Self2023
- Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan — Self2023
- The Jennifer Hudson Show — Self2022
- Sherri — Self - Guest2022
- Miracle in Motor City — Self2021
- Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over — Self2021
via TMDB
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Male
- Origin
- United States
- Active from
- 1940
Discography
Member of
- The Miracles1955–1966
- The Miracles1966–1972
- The Miracles1983–1983
via MusicBrainz · CC0
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 513,702
- Total plays
- 3,528,589
Tags
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer 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 seventy Top 40 hits for Motown between 1959 and 1990, and also served as the company's Vice President from 1961 to 1988. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Smokey+
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- <tt>edgeR</tt>
: a Bioconductor package for differential expression analysis of digital gene expression data
· 2009 · cited 39,686x
- Welcome to the Tidyverse
· 2019 · cited 20,461x
- Introducing mothur: Open-Source, Platform-Independent, Community-Supported Software for Describing and Comparing Microbial Communities
· 2009 · cited 18,979x
- Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
· 2020 · cited 15,964x
- Integrative genomics viewer
· 2011 · cited 14,808x
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “She's not a bad girl becauseShe made me see, hmmm...How love could be.But she's a bad girl because (bad girl because)She wants to be free, hmmmm... (bad girl because)She wants to be free (bad girl)”
- “Ah, they tell me that the river's too deepAnd it's much too wide for you can't get across to the other side.But they don't know I've got to get there and hold her in my armsJust a one more time like I did before when she was mine all mine.Cause I can hear her saying (come to me baby)I'm going away.I'm going to stay.I'm gonna get to you, no matter what I have to do.”
- “I will build you a castle with a tower so highIt reaches the moon.I'll gather melodies from birdies that flyAnd compose you a tune.Give you lovin' warm as Mama's oven.And if that don't do,Then I'll try something new.”
- “I don't like youBut I love you.See that I'm alwaysThinking of you.Oh, oh, oh,You treat me badly;I love you madly.You've really got a hold on me.You've really got a hold on me, baby.”
- “You better beware, my friends all told meWhen they saw that I was falling for you.You better beware they told me that girl ain't gonna be true.She'll have you walking with your head in the air,Have you thinking that she really, really care.Then-a, then she'll let you down, she'll really let you down.She's a girl with no understanding.And when she's getting tired of you hanging around,She'll let you drop and say... have a happy landing (happy landing).”
- “No don't you know my daddy told me,Told me right from the startAbout youth.He said no matter how old a man is,He's partly a boy in his heart.Yeah, and that's the truth.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Key facts
- Born
- William Robinson Jr. , ( 1940-02-19 ) February 19, 1940 (age 86) , Detroit , Michigan, U.S.
- Genres
- R&B soul pop
- Occupations
- Singer songwriter record producer
- Years active
- 1955–present
- Labels
- Motown Universal SBK Liquid 8 Robso
- Formerly of
- The Miracles
- Spouses
- Claudette Rogers ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1959 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1986 ) Frances Gladney ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. May 2002</span>"}]]}'>2002 )
- Website
- smokeyrobinson .com
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- William
- Family name
- Robinson
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Detroit
- Occupation
- recording artist
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Native language
- English language
- Genre
- soul
- Instrument
- voice
- Record label
- Motown
- Official website
- www.smokeyrobinson.com
- Image
- Smokey Robinson at Hollyrod 2023 Design Care gala (cropped).jpg
- Voice type
- tenor
Show 9 more facts
- Commons category
- Smokey Robinson
- date of birth
- 1940-02-19
- birth name
- William Robinson
- nickname
- Smokey
- pseudonym
- Smokey Robinson
- start of work period
- 1955-00-00
- copyright representative
- PRS for Music
- different from
- William Robinson
- name in native language
- Smokey Robinson
via Wikidata · CC0
~21 min read
Encyclopedic overview
William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. He led the group from its 1955 origins, when they were called the Five Chimes, until 1972, when he retired from the group to focus on his role as Motown Records vice president. Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year. He left Motown in 1999.
Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and awarded the 2016 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for his lifetime contributions to popular music. He is a double Hollywood Walk of Fame Inductee, as a solo artist (1983) and as a member of the Miracles (2009). In 2022, he was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Smokey Robinson” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.