Smokey Robinson, Motown R&B Legend, is 9th Gershwin Prize Winner

Smokey Robinson, whose velvet falsetto has been compared to music produced by a fine instrument, is the ninth winner of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the Library of Congress announced.

The Detroit native, often known as the poet laureate of soul, will receive the lifetime achievement award Wednesday in Washington, D.C., at a gala that will be taped for a nationwide PBS broadcast on Feb. 10.

The Gershwin Prize honors a living musical artist whose lifetime body of work promotes the genre of a song — in Robinson’s case, rhythm and blues — as a vehicle of cultural understanding, entertaining and informing audiences; and inspiring new generations.

In awarding him the prestigious prize, the Library of Congress board made clear it believes Robinson’s mastery of lyrical verse is incomparable and that his often sorrowful, heart-on-the-sleeve hits have appealed across generations in a tightly woven tapestry of American pop music.

“As a singer, songwriter, producer and record executive, Smokey Robinson is a musical legend,” Acting Librarian of Congress David S. Mao said in a news release. “His rich melodies are works of art — enduring, meaningful and powerful. And he is a master at crafting lyrics that speak to the heart and soul, expressing ordinary themes in an extraordinary way. It is that quality in his music that makes him one of the greatest poetic songwriters of our time.”

During his more than 50-year career, Robinson has released dozens of Top 40 hits, added more than 4,000 songs to his legacy songbook, and as a producer and record executive helped lead the musical revolution that became known as the Motown sound.

Among the Grammy winner’s hits, the gut-wrenching “The Tracks of My Tears,” which Robinson recorded with The Miracles, is one of the most enduring. The sad story of a man who tries to but cannot conceal the pain of a loveless plight was named to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2007 as one of the nation’s culturally, historically or aesthetically significant sound recordings.

Born in Detroit in 1940, he formed his first group, the Matadors, in 1954. Three years later, the combo added a female vocalist, and the group became known as The Miracles. The group teamed with Berry Gordy Jr. and his then-fledgling Motown records for the label’s first million-selling hit, “Shop Around,” in 1960.

Robinson’s collaboration with Gordy from day one of the Motown record label grew into a musical dynasty. Producer, talent scout and songwriter for Motown, Robinson also served as the label’s vice president for nearly three decades.

The Miracles were the preeminent r&b group in the 1960s through the early 1970s until Robinson retired from the group in 1972. He returned as a solo performer a year later and continued to create beloved popular classics. His 1975 album, “A Quiet Storm,” was critically acclaimed, and in 1987 he won a Grammy for best r&b vocal performance for his single “Just to See Her” from his album, “One Heartbeat.”

The Detroit Free Press caught up with Robinson and Gordy in Washington, D.C., as they poked through treasured archives at the Library of Congress. There, along with the original manuscript of brothers George and Ira Gershwin's “Porgy and Bess," was original sheet music, hand-sketched by Gordy, for Robinson’s first copyrighted song, “I Cry,” in 1958.

“I wasn’t thinking about being here with the Gershwin Award and all of that,” Robinson said of the partnership with Gordy. “I was a teenager. I was getting a chance for my music to be heard. I could write this music, and this man was going to put my music out.”

“It’s good to know somebody keeps that stuff … and puts it in a place where it can be kept forever and will always be there,” Robinson told the Free Press of the Library of Congress mission. “That’s just so incredible to me first of all as a person, but as a songwriter — to think that my music can be around forever, and people are storing and saving it and I don’t even know it.”

Robinson, now 76, still regularly tours, though it has been seven years since he released an album with new material. However, he told the Free Press he’s still a prolific songwriter and is “anxious to get into the studio and record some of it.”

Receiving the Gershwin Award is a highlight for Robinson, who previously has been recognized with the Grammy Living Legend Award, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors, the presidential National Medal of Arts Award and the BET Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

“... If I’m being even mentioned in the same breath with the Gershwins — whose music is everlasting — then that’s a crowning achievement for me as a songwriter. I want to be Beethoven, man. I want to be Bach, Chopin,” he told the Free Press. “Five hundred years from now, they’ll still be playing Smokey Robinson music: If possible, that’s what I want to be. So this is the first step.”

‘Best of Motown’ Playlist

Robinson’s hits read like a “best of Motown” playlist, and include such timeless classics as “Mickey’s Monkey” (1963), “Going to a Go-Go” (1966), “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” (1963), “Ooo Baby Baby” (1965), “The Tracks of My Tears” (1965), “More Love” (1967), “I Second That Emotion” (1967), “Baby, Baby Don’t Cry” (1969), “The Tears of a Clown” (co-written with Stevie Wonder, 1970), “Cruisin’” (1979), “Being With You” (1981), “Just to See Her” and “One Heartbeat” (1987).

As a producer and songwriter, Robinson was the creative force behind many Motown classics. “My Girl,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Get Ready,” “Since I Lost My Baby,” “Ain’t That Peculiar,” “My Guy,” “You Beat Me to the Punch” and “Don’t Mess with Bill” are among the many hit songs that Robinson wrote for other Motown artists.

He has crafted lyrics for Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, Brenda Holloway, The Marvelettes, The Temptations and many others. His music influenced The Beatles, who recorded Robinson and the Miracles’ “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” in 1963; The Rolling Stones (“Going To A Go-Go”); Michael Jackson (“Who’s Loving You”) and The Supremes (“I Second That Emotion”).

Previous Gershwin Prize recipients are Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Sir Paul McCartney, songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and the late Hal David, Carole King, Billy Joel and Willie Nelson.

“It gives me such joy and gratitude to be included among the past recipients of this most prestigious songwriting award,” Robinson said in a press release.

Photo by Becky via Flickr Commons