Smokey Robinson takes Gershwin Prize in soulful night
A visibly moved Smokey Robinson put an emotional cap Wednesday on a festive, melodic night celebrating his storied songwriting career.
Amid multiple standing ovations from an audience filled with dignitaries at DAR Constitution Hall, the Motown star reflected on his humble Detroit roots as he accepted the prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
“This is such a wonderful, spectacular, incredible night in my life,” said Robinson, 76. “I’ve had many of them, and this is right at the top of the list.”
Raised in a north end Detroit home where the Gershwins’ music was played alongside “gut- bucket blues,” Robinson said he had dreamed since childhood of going into show business, so “for me to stand up here tonight in that company is beyond my wildest dreams.”
Actor Samuel L. Jackson — personally asked by Robinson to emcee the event — lent a lighthearted touch to a soulful program of Robinson songs that remain “ageless, just like he is,” as Jackson said early on. Artists included CeeLo Green, Corinne Bailey Rae, JoJo, Aloe Blacc and a pair of Robinson’s fellow Michigan natives, BeBe Winans and Tegan Marie.
Awarded annually by the Library of Congress, the Gershwin Prize has become one of the leading honors recognizing popularmusic songwriting, named for the iconic musical brothers Ira and George, who crafted a host of 20th-century standards. Recipients have included Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Carole King, Billy Joel and Robinson’s Motown colleague Stevie Wonder.
Speaking to media Wednesday, the night’s younger performers emphasized the enduring influence of Robinson’s body of work — songs recorded by his group The Miracles and during his solo career, along with those made fam- ous by The Temptations, Wonder, the Jackson 5 and others.
The Robinson-penned hits were rolled out one after another in a show taped to air Feb. 10 on PBS: JoJo gave fiery, acrobatic vocals to Who’s Loving You, Rae got silky for Ooo Baby Baby, Esperanza Spalding served a frisky reading of The Tears of a Clown, and Blacc gave fitting emotional heft to The
Tracks of My Tears, widely regarded as Robinson’s finest work.
Robinson was grinning and animated much of the night as he looked on from his VIP box, where he sat with his wife, Frances, Motown founder and best friend Berry Gordy and Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. A nimble band led by Detroit native Greg Phillinganes steered the night’s performances, which included Kip Moore’s I Second
That Emotion, Ledisi’s You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me, Green’s The Way You Do the Things You
Do, Winans’ It’s Growing and Tegan Marie’s My Guy.
Gordy took the stage just before Robinson accepted the award.
“Smokey was always a great poet who expressed ordinary themes in extraordinary ways,” Gordy said.
Addressing his friend of 50plus years, the Motown founder said, “Smokey, tonight you are about to take your rightful place in the most excellent company imaginable.”
After a speech that was equal parts humility and gratitude, Robinson remained onstage to perform his own Being With You before galvanizing the audience with an expressive rendition of the Gershwins’ Love Is Here to
Stay, blowing a kiss to his wife. He then joined the full cast of performers for a lively take on My
Girl, capping the latest triumph for what one Library of Congress official called “truly the nicest man on the planet.”