![]() ![]() It was the beginning of a long and successful collaboration. ![]() With his help, the Miracles released their first single, "Got a Job", an answer song to the Silhouettes' hit single "Get a Job" on End Records. Gordy was impressed with Robinson's vocals and even more impressed with Robinson's ambitious songwriting. At that time during the audition, Robinson had brought along with him a "Big 10" notebook with 100 songs he wrote while in high school. In August 1957, Robinson and the Miracles met songwriter Berry Gordy after a failed audition for Brunswick Records. Main article: The Miracles Robinson (front row, left) with The Miracles, circa 1962 They later changed their name to the Miracles.Ĭareer The Miracles and Motown The Matadors began touring Detroit venues around this time. The group's guitarist, Marv Tarplin, joined them sometime in 1958. Another member, Emerson (Sonny) Rogers, Bobby Rogers' cousin, was replaced by his sister, Claudette Rogers (who would marry Smokey Robinson in 1959). Two years later, they were renamed the Matadors and included Bobby Rogers. In 1955, he formed the first lineup of the Five Chimes with childhood friend Ronald White and classmate Pete Moore. Robinson's interest in music started after hearing the groups Nolan Strong & the Diablos and Billy Ward and his Dominoes on the radio as a child, and he has listed Barrett Strong, a Detroit native, as a strong vocal influence. At one point, he and Aretha Franklin lived several houses from each other on Belmont he once said he'd known Franklin since she was about five, overhearing her play the piano when he had come to play with her older brother Cecil after her family first moved to Detroit. He attended Northern High School, where he was above average academically and a keen athlete, though his main interest was music, and he formed a doo-wop group named the Five Chimes. I've heard that story about him giving it to me because I'm a light skinned black man but that's not true. That's what everyone called me until I was about 12 and then I dropped the Joe part. So from the time I was three years old if people asked me what my name was I didn't tell them my name was William, I told them my name was Smokey Joe. He got a cowboy name for me, which was Smokey Joe. He used to take me to see cowboy movies all the time when I was a little boy because I loved cowboy movies. My Uncle Claude was my favorite uncle, he was also my godfather. His uncle Claude gave him the nickname "Smokey Joe" when he was a child. Robinson's ancestry is also part Nigerian, Scandinavian, Portuguese, and Cherokee. ![]() was born to an African-American father and a mother of African-American and French descent in a poor family in the North End area of Detroit, Michigan. In 2022, he was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. He is also a double Hollywood Walk of Fame Inductee, as a member of his group, The Miracles (2009), and as a solo artist, (1983). Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and was awarded the 2016 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for his lifetime contributions to popular music. Robinson left Motown Records in 1990, following the sale of the company two years earlier. However, Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year. ![]() He led the group from its 1955 origins as "the Five Chimes" until 1972, when he announced his retirement from the group to focus on his role as Motown's vice president. He was the founder and frontman of the original and pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, producer, and former record executive director. ![]()
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