Smokey Robinson at Humana Challenge Day 1: Singer Smokey Robinson says his ipod has music from "Bach to Nelly and everybody in between."
Legendary singer Smokey Robinson gets ready to tee off on the first hole at the Palmer Private Course before the second round of the Humana Challenge. Omar Ornelas/The Desert Sun
Humana Challenge
For live updates during the Humana Challenge read Larry Bohannan's Desert Golf Blog and be sure to follow @mydesert_sports on Twitter, and also follow #humanachallenge.
For complete coverage of the Humana Challenge go to mydesert.com/humana
More
LA QUINTA — Trends in the music industry have legendary Motown singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson troubled. But he also said the one thing he's inspired by is the talent out there.
“I hate it when people say music has gone to hell and there's no good music being made,” Robinson said. “There are a lot of great young artists out there, a lot of great song writers and I'm proud of all of them.”
Robinson, along with founder Berry Gordy, were the main architects of Motown, which evolved into more than just a record label. Motown became a cultural phenomenon that helped break down social barriers, with Robinson fueling the revolution with his song writing and legendary voice.
“Smokey was Motown as far as I was concerned,” said shock rocker Alice Cooper. “Bob Dylan called him the greatest living poet in America. Smokey is great. He has the velvet voice. You talk about Motown, he was Motown.”
Among the timeless classics Robinson has produced are “Tears of a Clown,” “Cruisin',” “Tracks of My Tears” and “Shop Around.”
What has fueled Robinson's talent has been his love of a wide array of music, spanning different genres and time periods. One only needs to look at Robinson's iPod to see how deep his passion runs.
“I have everyone from Bach to Nelly and everyone in between. I'm a music lover and a song writing fan,” Robinson said.
However, the music industry has gone through many significant and debilitating changes. Among them is music piracy that has eroded profits.
Any new acts that want to make a living in the industry need to succeed as live acts.
“They better learn to perform,” Robinson said. “As far as record sales and how the songs are being marketed and pirated and so on and so forth, that part is in shambles. They better learn to perform to sustain themselves.
“There's no basic music industry anymore. It's a whole different ball game. I worry for it.”
As for current performers, Robinson said he has a fondness for one particular group, the electro-pop duo LMFAO, which features the son and grandson of Gordy, the Motown founder and Robinson's mentor.
“I've seen them many times. I saw them when they were in their mommy's stomachs,” Robinson said of Stefan Gordy (stage name RedFoo) and Skyler Gordy (SkyBlu). “We're proud of them. They're doing great. In their genre, they're on top. We're proud of that fact. It's like carrying on a legacy.”
Today, many R&B acts say there are influenced by Motown and the legendary sound. But ask Robinson, and he can't think of any acts that embody the Motown sound.
For Robinson, it was more than a sound, but a reflection of the times during the tumultuous 1960s.
“I look at Motown as a once-in-a-lifetime musical event,” Robinson said. “I know it hadn't happen before that time and I seriously doubt it will happen again like that.”
During a 10-year period, from 1961-71, Motown produced 110 top-10 hits, with most of the acts coming from the Midwest, and a large part of that from Detroit.
“I've been asked that many times, why are there so many people in Detroit and why was the talent there?” Robinson said. “I tell people all the time, I believe in my heart that in every town, every city, every village, every gathering of people in the world, ratio wise, there was probably the same amount of talent.
“Our advantage was that we had Berry Gordy, who was a man who was a music maker himself before he started Motown. He was a song writer and his first love was music. To have him at the helm was an advantage for us. I was fortunate enough to meet him before he started Motown and I was able to be part of it from the very first day.”
