Post by Jonel on Sept 1, 2003 8:56:13 GMT -5
Poet laureate of romantic soul to open GBPAC season
Sunday, August 31, 2003
By MELODY PARKER, Courier Arts/Special Sections Editor
That voice.
Still as sweet, silky-smooth and pure as ever --- definitely Smokey Robinson.
He sounds happy and relaxed, but clearly anticipating this week's release of a new contemporary Christian CD, "Food for the Spirit." Surprisingly, it's the first spiritual album for the legendary artist who wrote, recorded and produced some of Motown's biggest hits.
"I've never done anything like this before. I've been working on it for six years, composing songs with the intention of artists like the Winans recording them. Then I decided to do it. I'm very much into the Lord, and these songs are a way I feel about life and that connection," Robinson says.
But it's not gospel. Musically, he's stayed "Smokey."
Expect to hear a few tracks from the disc here on Saturday, when Robinson opens the 2003-2004 season at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in Cedar Falls.
For lifelong fans, he'll wax nostalgic with hits that made Smokey Robinson and the Miracles famous --- "Shop Around," "I Second That Emotion," "The Tracks of My Tears," "More Love," "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Oooo Baby Baby," as well as solo hits like "Cruisin'" and "Being With You."
Robinson's career has spanned more than four decades, more than two dozen Top 40 hits and 60 million-plus in record sales. He has been called the "poet laureate" of soul music.
He wrote or produced songs that made Motown a musical force --- "My Guy" for Mary Wells, "Ain't That Peculiar" for Marvin Gaye and "My Guy" and "Get Ready" for The Temptations.
"I'm living a life I absolutely love. I'm very blessed. I tried retirement once, back in the '70s, and went stir-crazy," he says, laughing. "One of the highlights of my life is my next gig. I've always got that to look forward to --- the gigs and seeing the fans. People still want to hear the music."
In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. In 1990, he received the Grammy's Living Legend Award, and he's also received berths in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Soul Train Heritage Award and the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award, among dozens of other awards, honors and achievements.
"I'm doing something I'd have done for free, but to realize that my peers and the public have accepted my music, that makes me feel good," says Robinson, 63.
William "Smokey" Robinson, with his soaring tenor, ear for insinuating melodies and lyrics and sophisticated manner, never dreamed his career would take him so far. The Detroit native grew up in the tough Brewster neighborhood. His mom died when he was 10, and he was raised by his sister. In the 1950s, the singer was performing with his own group when he met agent and fledging record producer Berry Gordy.
They were made for each other, and the Miracles quickly became Motown's first bonafide hitmakers.
In "Rolling Stone," Stephen Holden wrote that Robinson was one of the rare pop singers whose "faith in the redemptive power of erotic love continues unabated. ... Don't think, however, that Robinson's songs aren't filled with sex. They are. But in this man's art, sex isn't a fast roll in the hay, it's sweet manna shared during a leisurely stroll into paradise."
As vice-president on the label from 1961 to 1988, Robinson wrote songs, gained a reputation as an impeccable producer and scouted new talent. He left the label in 1990, secure in his legacy as a "Motown treasure."
His association with Gordy continues to thrive. Motown released Robinson's "Intimate" album in 1999, and Gordy is listed as executive producer on Robinson's new release.
Robinson's affiliation with Motown "is one of the proudest achievements in my life. I only wish that at the time we'd have known we were making history because I would have saved everything. Every scrap of paper I started a song on, every little bit of tape we edited out. Motown was wonderful, a musical phenomenon at a moment in history that will never be repeated," he says.
There have been valleys, too, when Robinson's romantic soul music fell on deaf ears as the scene shifted. His marriage to the Miracles' former female singer, Claudette Rogers, fell apart (he has since remarried) and he battled cocaine addiction in the mid-80s, which he wrote candidly about in his autobiography, "Smokey: Inside My Life."
"I've had so many downs until I can't even tell you. I've used my peaks to erase my valleys and my valleys to appreciate my peaks," he says simply.
At 63, he stays in shape exercising, playing golf and eating right. He doesn't smoke or drink and before every show, he prays. Robinson also enjoys writing poetry and eventually plans to publish a book of poems.
His interest in music is unabated. He admits he's flattered when young hip-hop and rap artists sample his music.
"If I've influenced young people in a positive way, I love that, and if they appreciate it to the degree they want to sample it, that's cool."
Beyond his musical legacy, Robinson hopes to leave his mark as "a good person, first and foremost. It's easy to think show business can't survive without you and you can't survive without show business, so you have to keep your head on straight and recognize that accolades and praise are part of the business and have nothing, really, to do with who you are in a personal way.
"I mean, the business, the music, will go on long after I'm gone from this plane and this planet."
Courtesy of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier.
www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2003/08/31/news/lifestyles/11be7ce2f70129c386256d93000ba85f.txt
Sunday, August 31, 2003
By MELODY PARKER, Courier Arts/Special Sections Editor
That voice.
Still as sweet, silky-smooth and pure as ever --- definitely Smokey Robinson.
He sounds happy and relaxed, but clearly anticipating this week's release of a new contemporary Christian CD, "Food for the Spirit." Surprisingly, it's the first spiritual album for the legendary artist who wrote, recorded and produced some of Motown's biggest hits.
"I've never done anything like this before. I've been working on it for six years, composing songs with the intention of artists like the Winans recording them. Then I decided to do it. I'm very much into the Lord, and these songs are a way I feel about life and that connection," Robinson says.
But it's not gospel. Musically, he's stayed "Smokey."
Expect to hear a few tracks from the disc here on Saturday, when Robinson opens the 2003-2004 season at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in Cedar Falls.
For lifelong fans, he'll wax nostalgic with hits that made Smokey Robinson and the Miracles famous --- "Shop Around," "I Second That Emotion," "The Tracks of My Tears," "More Love," "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "Oooo Baby Baby," as well as solo hits like "Cruisin'" and "Being With You."
Robinson's career has spanned more than four decades, more than two dozen Top 40 hits and 60 million-plus in record sales. He has been called the "poet laureate" of soul music.
He wrote or produced songs that made Motown a musical force --- "My Guy" for Mary Wells, "Ain't That Peculiar" for Marvin Gaye and "My Guy" and "Get Ready" for The Temptations.
"I'm living a life I absolutely love. I'm very blessed. I tried retirement once, back in the '70s, and went stir-crazy," he says, laughing. "One of the highlights of my life is my next gig. I've always got that to look forward to --- the gigs and seeing the fans. People still want to hear the music."
In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. In 1990, he received the Grammy's Living Legend Award, and he's also received berths in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Soul Train Heritage Award and the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award, among dozens of other awards, honors and achievements.
"I'm doing something I'd have done for free, but to realize that my peers and the public have accepted my music, that makes me feel good," says Robinson, 63.
William "Smokey" Robinson, with his soaring tenor, ear for insinuating melodies and lyrics and sophisticated manner, never dreamed his career would take him so far. The Detroit native grew up in the tough Brewster neighborhood. His mom died when he was 10, and he was raised by his sister. In the 1950s, the singer was performing with his own group when he met agent and fledging record producer Berry Gordy.
They were made for each other, and the Miracles quickly became Motown's first bonafide hitmakers.
In "Rolling Stone," Stephen Holden wrote that Robinson was one of the rare pop singers whose "faith in the redemptive power of erotic love continues unabated. ... Don't think, however, that Robinson's songs aren't filled with sex. They are. But in this man's art, sex isn't a fast roll in the hay, it's sweet manna shared during a leisurely stroll into paradise."
As vice-president on the label from 1961 to 1988, Robinson wrote songs, gained a reputation as an impeccable producer and scouted new talent. He left the label in 1990, secure in his legacy as a "Motown treasure."
His association with Gordy continues to thrive. Motown released Robinson's "Intimate" album in 1999, and Gordy is listed as executive producer on Robinson's new release.
Robinson's affiliation with Motown "is one of the proudest achievements in my life. I only wish that at the time we'd have known we were making history because I would have saved everything. Every scrap of paper I started a song on, every little bit of tape we edited out. Motown was wonderful, a musical phenomenon at a moment in history that will never be repeated," he says.
There have been valleys, too, when Robinson's romantic soul music fell on deaf ears as the scene shifted. His marriage to the Miracles' former female singer, Claudette Rogers, fell apart (he has since remarried) and he battled cocaine addiction in the mid-80s, which he wrote candidly about in his autobiography, "Smokey: Inside My Life."
"I've had so many downs until I can't even tell you. I've used my peaks to erase my valleys and my valleys to appreciate my peaks," he says simply.
At 63, he stays in shape exercising, playing golf and eating right. He doesn't smoke or drink and before every show, he prays. Robinson also enjoys writing poetry and eventually plans to publish a book of poems.
His interest in music is unabated. He admits he's flattered when young hip-hop and rap artists sample his music.
"If I've influenced young people in a positive way, I love that, and if they appreciate it to the degree they want to sample it, that's cool."
Beyond his musical legacy, Robinson hopes to leave his mark as "a good person, first and foremost. It's easy to think show business can't survive without you and you can't survive without show business, so you have to keep your head on straight and recognize that accolades and praise are part of the business and have nothing, really, to do with who you are in a personal way.
"I mean, the business, the music, will go on long after I'm gone from this plane and this planet."
Courtesy of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier.
www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2003/08/31/news/lifestyles/11be7ce2f70129c386256d93000ba85f.txt
