The Morning Call (Sunday)

Smokey Robinson tells tales of Motown’s past

New audio memoir traces journey of singer-songwriter

- By Mikael Wood

LOS ANGELES — When Smokey Robinson followed Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. to Los Angeles from their native Detroit in the early 1970s, the singer and songwriter, as responsibl­e as any for that label’s indelible sound, cast a wide net in searching for his first home here.

“The broker took me to all the Hills — Beverly, Woodland, Hidden, Hollywood,” Robinson, 80, recalled with a laugh.

After spending his first few months in a hotel on Wilshire Boulevard, Robinson finally settled on a place in Beverly Hills for him, his first wife (and former Miracles bandmate), Claudette Rogers, and their two small children.

“And the reason I bought that house was because it was the only tour that I went on where I saw kids playing outside,” he said. “Young kids like my kids, playing with each other in front of their homes. I didn’t see that anywhere else. So I said, ‘This is it.’ ”

Robinson viewed the neighborly vibe as a kind of movin’on-up version of his own childhood as he recounts it in “Grateful and Blessed,” an audio memoir released last month from Audible. Part of the company’s “Words + Music” series that includes previous editions from James Taylor and St. Vincent, the 100-minute program traces Robinson’s journey from growing up in Detroit — where he lived a few blocks from Diana Ross and took part in talent contests on his friend Aretha Franklin’s back porch — to attaining worldwide pop stardom and being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Along the way, he performs intimate new renditions of some of the signature hits he recorded with the Miracles or as a solo act or wrote for others in the Motown family, including “My Girl,” “Shop Around,” “The Tears of a Clown,” “The Way You Do the Things You

Do” and “Cruisin.’ ” To listen to these songs now, of course, is to marvel at how deeply they’ve embedded themselves in the American lexicon — and how significan­tly they’ve shaped the very idea of what a love song should do. But hearing Robinson tell the story behind a heartbreak­ing melody or a vivid turn of phrase also allows you to be surprised again by his genius.

This interview with Robinson has been edited for clarity and length

Q: You initially resisted Motown’s relocation. Why?

A: I thought it was a bad move. Detroit was where we started, and at that time, Motown had become so powerful that they even called Detroit Motown. To move to Los Angeles, where there was a lot of hustle and bustle going on, would mean we were just one of many. Then Berry sat me down and said, “No, man — Los Angeles is the entertainm­ent capital of the world. They’re making movies and doing TV specials. We’re still gonna be a record company, but we’ll have access to all that other stuff.” After we got out here, I understood what he was talking about. But I did protest it.

Q: Did Motown retain the idealism it was formed with?

A: Absolutely. That was the beauty of Motown. Berry started it because of the fact that nobody was paying him, so he wanted to start something where people got paid. And we got paid.

Q: Looking back, the label was clearly a modelfor Blackowned creative businesses in America. Did you all have a sense at the beginning that you were blazing a trail?

A: I wasn’t thinking about that. Here I am, a young guy, 17 or 18 years old, whose love,

whose dream — whose impossible dream — is to be in the music world, writing my songs, singing, making records and all that. So that’s what I was thinking about. It only came later that it was obvious we were changing things.

Q: Did success happen the way you expected, or was it different?

A: Yes (laughs). It was like what I expected, but it was different too, because it took a long time for us to hone our craft as artists. Fortunatel­y for us, Berry hired a choreograp­her and people to come teach us vocals and all that. At Motown, we did school called Artist Developmen­t. All the artists, no matter who you were or who you became, two days a week when you were in Detroit, you had to go to Artist Developmen­t.

Q: Did you ever resent that grooming process?

A: Let me tell you something: I don’t resent anything about show business. The last time I was in Detroit, I took my entire group — I have 19 people who travel with me: lighting crew, sound crew, band, singers — I rented a bus and took them to where I grew up, so they could see the origins of it. It’s totally impoverish­ed now — people living in one house and the next house is torn down and boarded up. It’s a mess. So when I got the chance to live something that I never dared to think would come true, I honored it.

Q: You say in the memoir that Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” is your favorite album of all time. Why is that?

A: It’s prophecy. When Marvin was writing it, he lived right around the corner from me. Marvin and I hung out almost every day of our lives, and we did everything — golf, basketball, chess. But I’d go to his house and just sit there while he was writing. He turned to me one day and said, “Smoke, God is writing this album.” I said, “Oh yeah, man, that’s cool.” He said, “No, man — I’m just sitting here, and I’m doing what God is directing.” I believed him. If you listen to “What’s Going On,” it’s more poignant today than it was when it came out. But back then it was a wake-up call for everybody.

Q: When you meet someone who doesn’t know who you are, how do you describe yourself? As a singer or a songwriter?

A: I don’t. I meet you, I’m just a guy: “Hey, what’s happening?” People don’t know me, that’s cool with me. I’ll give you an example: I’m in the airport one morning and I’m incognito — got on some shades, collar up, skullcap pulled down on my head. I’m sitting over in the corner and I’m reading a magazine, OK? And I see this young white boy, about 20 yards from me, and he’s with his girlfriend. He’s doing the “yes” with his head and she’s doing the “no” with her head. They come over to me and the guy says, “Hey man, I know you don’t want to be bothered, but I just have to prove this to her because I love you — I got everything you’ve ever done. So would you please sign an autograph for her? Would you please say, ‘Love to Sarah, from Lionel Richie’?” And that’s what I wrote: “Love to Sarah, from Lionel Richie.”

 ?? PIZZELLO/INVISION CHRIS ?? Smokey Robinson, who is seen performing in 2015, recently released an audio memoir on Audible.
PIZZELLO/INVISION CHRIS Smokey Robinson, who is seen performing in 2015, recently released an audio memoir on Audible.

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