The living legend on his life, legacy, and Motown.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
At 80, Detroit soul iconSmokey Robinsonhas been a presence in music for over six decades.
I spoke to the man in early November about a life spent blazing trails.
Hes feisty and funny, thankful for the opportunities hes been given in life and also protective ofhis legacy.
Im curious what made you want to tell your life story now, this year?Audible.
They called me and asked me if I wanted to do it and I said yes.
So thats what made me do it.
You were a teenager at the very beginning of the Miracles run in the 50s.
Did you have to grow up quickly to adjust to the music business?No.
I dont think I have yet.
Im serious when I say that.
I still have a bunch of childlike [energy] in me.
I still feel young and vibrant.
I dont ever want to lose that.
I still feel that way.
Im 80, but I feel like Im 30.
I really do, physically and emotionally.
But that was my dream.
It was what I wanted to do with my life, if possible.
And I didnt think it would be, so no, I wasnt tripping like that.
In the early 60s, you helped Black music evolve from doo-wop to soul.
Let me tell you about changing music.
There were five people there.
There was his then-wife Raynoma.
There was Brian Holland, a lady named Janie Bradford, and me.
We are not just going to make Black music, were going to make music for everybody.
We going to make music for the world.
Were going to see to it that our stories mean something.
That was the plan, and thank God, thats what we accomplished.
You were writing your own songs at a time when singers werent expected to do that.
Sometimes that makes for music that isnt so great.
Do you miss the Motown model?I miss Motown, period.
As far as Im concerned, Motown was a once-in-a-lifetime musical event.
Nothing like that happened before.
I seriously doubt anything like that will ever happen again.
So, I miss Motown just because of missing it.
I go back to Detroit; I have one niece who is still alive who lives there.
Most of my family has moved out here to Los Angeles.
A lot of them passed on.
When I go to Detroit, I go to the museum.
These people are gone, but it was a wonderful ride for them.
How badly did you miss making music that year?I didnt miss it that year.
When I retired from the Miracles, my real, true thoughts were,Im done, thats it.
Wed been traveling around the world.
Everything a group could possibly do, wed done it two or three times.
She finally retired from that.
And then our oldest son, Berry, named after Berry Gordy, was born through a surrogate mother.
or Hi, Daddy.
The group and I were gone 90 percent of the time at that time.
Ive had it.That was my thought at the time.
I wasnt [missing it].
I was vice president of Motown.
We moved out to Los Angeles.
I was cool for the first two and a half years.
I didnt start missing show business until after that.
After the first two and a half years, I started saying,Wait a minute, now.
Somethings missing in my life.
I am missing something here.I started to long for it, to crave it.
He said, Hey man, I want you to do something for me.
I said, What?
So Im thinking hes going to tell me something corporate.
I said, What did you say to me?
I said, What are you talking about, Berry?
He said, Every day you come into this office, you are miserable.
Now Im trying to hide this from everybody, Craig.
Im thinking Im doing a great job of hiding it.
So I need you to get the fuck out.
I could not believe this guy could see through me like that.
I hugged him, I hugged him so tight.
So I wrote Quiet Storm.
I got a chance to go back into show business.
Im a quiet singer, but Im going to take it by storm.
I didnt expect that, but thats what it became.
Thats still flourishing to this day!
Ronnie White, who passed on, I knew him since I was 10 years old.
Pete Moore, Ive known him since I was 11 years old.
Bobby Rogers, I knew him when I was 14 years old.
I grew up with those dudes.
I wasnt into competition with them.
When I left the group, in fact, I promoted them.
I was for them; I wanted them to make it.
I wasnt thinking about competing with anybody but myself.
I wanted to just do myself.
I listen to everybody, everybody you’re free to think of.
I listen toBillie Eilish.
You left Motown in 1990 after a number of years being vice-president.
Was it bittersweet stepping away from that movement?Yeah.
We were kind of dismantling it at that time, though.
It was the beginning of the ending, just before Berry sold Motown.
But then you didnt release much else until the end of the decade.
What kept you out of the public eye in those years?I was unsettled.
I didnt have a record company home, which I was used to.
Youve written for a lot of other artists over the years.
Are there songs you regret giving away?Not a one.
It was a pleasure for me.
I get this question about My Girl all the time.
As a songwriter, My Girl has become my international anthem.
Had it not been for the Temptations, I probably would have never, ever written My Girl.
It didnt matter who had the last hit record.
If they liked you at all, you had the opportunity.
I wanted to write something sweet for David Ruffin to sing, which became My Girl.
And he sang the shit out of it, so it was contagious.
I dont regret that whatsoever.
Who are your other favorite singers to write for?Everybody at Motown.
I would like to write for everybody in the music business right now.
I wish that happened.
I wrote Whos Loving You [nearly] before Michael Jackson was even born.
And it was on the flip side of Shop Around.
I was about 21 years old [at the time].
Nine years later, here comes Michael Jackson.
He was 11 years old when he recorded Whos Loving You.
Theres no way an 11-year-old child could know that.
But this dude sang that song like he had written it, like he knew all about it.
It became his song.
Thats the most popular cover thats ever happened with one of my songs.
You know whats my most covered song?
Im glad that the last four years are over.
[Racism] came in more powerful in the last four years than it had in the last 20.
It became prevalent because our leader was almost like a promoter of it.
The only difference between people is the texture and the color of our skin.
If you skinned everybody alive, you wouldnt know who anyone was.
All our hearts are in the same place, our organs, our everything is in the same place.
We all have red blood.
Were all human beings.
Its a damn shame that all this times gone in life, and people still dont get that.
See, theres evil, and theres good, and people who adopt evil, thats who they are.
It aint got shit to do with the color of their skin or where they live.
And young people are seeing through that shit.
Young people are saying, Hey, wait a minute now.
I like so-and-so and so-and-so, and theyre Black, or I like so-and-so and theyre white or Chinese.
Young people are pulling their shit together, and Im very happy about that.
The concept of the United States of America is the greatest concept in the world.
Its a wonderful concept.
Theres no place like America.
So, for people to come in and attempt to fuck that up is ridiculous.
Im a Black man, and Im telling you this: Ive been all over the world.
The only places I havent been are Africa, China, and Russia.
Here, people say African American.
Dont call me no African American.
Im a Black American.
Black soldiers have fought and died for this country.
They were doing it for Mississippi and Georgia and Alabama.
Im a Black American.
Scores of performers have come and gone, but youre still here.
I have my place in it, and Im going to cherish that place.
Im not going to squander it.
Most of the recording studios were closed for a while.
Thats all stuff we need to function.
So its been rough, but they finally reopened the studios, and Im in the studio now.
Im recording two CDs, one in Spanish and one in English.
You discuss your friendship with Aretha Franklin inGrateful and Blessed.
Were you involved or consulted at all aboutthe Aretha biopic coming out next year?No.
I was involved while she was alive.
She said, Smoke, theyre getting ready to really go for it and do my movie.
Now, who do you want to play you?
I dont know, I dont care, baby, I said.
Whoever you get to play me is fine with me.
Thats up to you to pick that.
She said, No, but I thought maybe you might have had a choice.
But I didnt, so that was it.
note:Lodric D. Collinswill play him.]
That was one of the things we talked about in my very last conversation with her.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
