Smokeyrobinsonblog
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His first career with Motown was as lead singer with The Miracles from 1955 to 1972. After a short break, he returned to find success as a solo artist. Smokey Robinson has had only two number one albums on the Billboard Soul and R&B Albums Chart during his entire solo career so far. In the early 1980s Robinson achieved great success with a new release entitled "Being With You", the title track from his gold-certified album, which spent five weeks at number one on the Hot Soul Singles Chart and reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, behind "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, week-ending 16th May 1981 (3 weeks). It was his highest charting solo hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and was also a hit on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles Chart, week-ending 23rd May 1981(1 week). The track was a tremendous success in the UK on the Official Pop Singles Chart (week-ending 9th May 1981, 2 weeks) becoming Robinson's second UK number one single and his first as a solo artist. Robinson also obtained gold certification in England from the BPI in June 1981 for over 400,000 copies sold. The same single achieved gold certification in America with over one million copies sold at retail outlets across the country according to the RIAA. The album was produced by George Tobin in association with Mike Piccirillo. The number one single and title track "Being With You" features the drummer Ed Greene who at one time played for the late Barry White studio band in the 1970s. Greene was featured on an additional five tracks playing drums. ��1981 Other members of the rhythm section included Mike Piccirillo (guitar, synthesizer, organ), Scott Edwards on bass (he was Stevie Wonder’s bass player from 1970 to 1973 on live tours) and Bill Cuomo on keyboards (the ��George Tobin (Producer) arranger for Kim Carnes’ major hit single ��Mike Piccirillo (Producer, “Bette Davis Eyes”). Another great session Guitar, Synthesizer, Organ) drummer James Gadson is featured only on ��Ed Greene (Drums) track number seven “As You Do” (he played ��Scott Edwards (Bass) for BB King, Rose Royce, Bill Withers, Quincy ��Bill Cuomo (Keys) Jones, Paul McCartney and many more ��James Gadson (Drums) artists). ��Claudette Robinson (Vocals) The overall style of the album is smooth Soul and R&B with a touch of Quiet Storm. The mood ranges from laid-back/mellow to romantic, sensual and intimate. Robinson’s former wife Claudette Robinson contributed background vocals to this album with her sensual feminine touch of class which she developed whilst singing with The Miracles from 1957 to 1972. ��No.1 – Hot Soul Singles Chart (5 Weeks) ��No.1 – Cash Box Top 100 Singles Chart (1 Week) ��No.1 – Official Pop Singles Chart UK (2 Weeks) ��No.2 – Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart (3 Weeks) It was also his second solo album to reach number one on the Billboard R&B and Soul Albums Chart, week-ending 4th July 1987 (1 week). The album contains the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart top 10 singles "Just to See Her" (which won Robinson a Grammy Award in the category of “Best Male R&B Vocal Performance” at the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988) and “One Heartbeat”. The single "Just to See Her" peaked at number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles Chart week-ending 16th May 1987 (1 week). The second single released from the album was "One Heartbeat" which peaked at number two on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, followed by "What's Too Much” as the album's third and final single. This album eventually sold in excess of 900,000 copies in the United States. The genres covered on the album range from R&B, Pop/Soft Rock, electronic, smooth ballads and Adult Contemporary, with the track “Just To See Her” a mixture of Pop and R&B. It features some of the best session musicians on the West Coast: American bassist Neil Stubenhaus (known for playing bass for Quincy Jones, Barbara Streisand, Blood Sweat & Tears and contributing to over 20 Grammy Award-winning recording projects), John Robinson (drums), Dann Huff (guitar), Paulinho Da Costa on percussion (well known Brazilian session musician who has played on countless recording sessions from the early 1970s), Lou Pardini (who played as a soloist on synthesizer and co-wrote the song with Jimmy ��1987 George. Lou Pardini is also a member of multi- platinum band Chicago) and Canadian-born Robbie Buchanan (Keyboards). Buchanan played ��No.1 – Billboard R&B and keyboards on the single “One Heartbeat”, the Soul Albums Chart (1 Week) second single released from the album. The song starts with a solo saxophone performance by Kenny G (the biggest-selling Jazz ��Wonderland Sounds Studios contemporary instrumental recording artist from the 1980s into the earlier part of the 21st Century, with several of his albums achieving diamond status in America for over ten million copies sold according to the RIAA) and background vocals performed by African American Patricia Henley who did a brilliant performance on the track (she ��No.1 – Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles Chart is featured on Kenny G’s multi-platinum album (1 Week) “Silhouette”, 1988). In 1987 Smokey Robinson was given an individual star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On 1st November 1992, Smokey Robinson received a silver-certified disc for his compilation ��No.2 – Billboard Adult album “Smokey Robinson Greatest Hits”, for over Contemporary Singles Chart 60,000 copies sold in the UK, awarded by the BPI. (1 Week) He also became a recipient of the National Medal of Arts presented by then President George W. Bush in the White House East Room on Sunday 3rd December 2006. In 2016 Robinson was awarded the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song and also in that year he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in the city of Detroit, on 21st August 2016. There are currently six e books in the collection, with more to come, all written by music historian Kevin Tomlin: Motown e-book 1: Holland-Dozier-Holland Motown e-book 2: Norman Whitfield Motown e-book 3: Smokey Robinson Motown e-book 4: Marvin Gaye Motown e-book 5: Stevie Wonder Motown e-book 6: Diana Ross Also available is Kevin Tomlin’s new book about Motown Records: “The Signature Sound of Motown” Published by Filament Press You will also enjoy exploring this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSignaturesounds/about Kevin Tomlin has been studying music with a signature sound for the last thirty plus years based around Soul and R&B music originated from America, especially music from America’s inter-cities and urban areas such as New Orleans, Chicago, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Detroit and Philadelphia. Kevin started his journey from personal experiences living in Jamaica from the early 1970s until 1979 when Disco ruled the charts. He was listening to music coming out of America via radio and seeing performances on television and at live concerts at the music theatre at college and at other live venues by many great legends, during a time when black music made inroads into popular culture globally. While he was living in America, he began teaching music history. During this period Kevin was involved in the creation of special training programmes and workshops for music teachers in South Florida schools, using music history as the foundation, to build exciting programmes of study and support for education professional. Kevin provides consultancy services for multi-media organisations, schools, recording artists, cultural and faith-based groups, and entertainment professionals all within the framework of “arts and cultural history”. His breadth and depth of knowledge is part of the reason his writings are sought after and particularly favoured by music students of all types, and those who really want to know real music gold nuggets. In recognition of his work as a music historian Kevin was appointed in 2015 onto the Executive Board of the UK based GMIA (Gospel Music Industry Alliance), serving and representing British Gospel Music in its relationship to Gospel Music sectors in other territories across the world..