Smokey Robinson

480. Smokey Robinson – Being With You (1981)

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The Intro

11 years after Smokey Robinson and The Miracles had a UK number 1 with the classic The Tears of a Clown, their frontman was a solo star and perhaps surprisingly became a chart-topper once more with Being With You.

Before

Robinson had been ready to quit The Miracles back in 1969 and concentrate on being Motown Records vice president and a family man. But the unexpected release and success of their 1967 recording The Tears of a Clown caused him to hang on a few more years.

Although he eventually retired in 1972, and The Miracles continued, Robinson couldn’t stay away for long. A year later he released his debut solo LP, Smokey, featuring contributions from former Miracles guitarist Marv Tarplin. In 1974 the track Just My Soul Responding became his first solo hit in the UK – but it only reached 33. Next to the likes of former collaborators Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, who were releasing great records, Robinson looked a little old-fashioned. And he was still Motown vice president, too, so perhaps too busy to do his own material justice.

In 1975, Robinson’s Baby That’s Backatcha reached 26 in the US, but other than that, most of his 70s material was poorly received critically and commercially. His fortunes finally changed when Tarplin presented him with Cruisin’. Robinson wrote some lyrics, and this smooth and sexy single took him all the way to four in the US.

Robinson was impressed by the singer Kim Carnes’ cover of the Smokey Robinson and The Miracles’ track More Love, and penned her the ballad Being With You. However, Robinson didn’t know that Carnes’ and her producer George Tobin had parted ways. When Tobin heard Robinson’s demo, he told him he should keep it for himself, and Tobin would produce it. Good idea. Tobin wasn’t actually much of a producer, but got guitarist Mike Piccirillo to help out.

Review

There’s no denying Robinson is a musical legend, blessed with the voice of an angel that you can hear on a number of classics such as You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me, The Tracks of My Tears and The Tears of a Clown. Not only does Being With You come nowhere near to these hits, it’s also the least memorable chart-topper of 1981 to date. It’s silky smooth and well-produced, and Robinson’s voice is as great as always – but the tune is bland and insubstantial. Being With You washes over you in the same way as buying milk in a supermarket does. The most interesting aspect is the video, in which Robinson hangs around a beach house.

Actually, it’s also interesting to note that Being With You was kept from the top of the Billboard chart in the US by Kim Carnes’ far superior Bette Davis Eyes – and both featured the synth work of Bill Cuomo.

After

Gordy wasn’t very keen on Being With You, and probably even less keen on a Motown release being produced by somebody who wasn’t on his label. But as Being With You began to climb the charts, he started throwing money at the single, and it paid off.

Robinson and Tobin continued to work together for several albums, but to little success. He duetted with Rick James in 1984 on Ebony Eyes, but his hits dried up.

In 1987, Robinson made another comeback with the album One Heartbeat, which saw a return to commercial form, scoring top 10 hits with the title track Just to Hear. That same year, Sheffield pop band ABC paid tribute to the great man with When Smokey Sings, which peaked at 11 in the UK.

The following year, there was some controversy when Robinson found himself inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – minus The Miracles. Robinson didn’t take kindly to this, considering it an affront to his group. It took 24 years before he was able to introduce Tarplin, Bobby Rogers, his ex-wife Claudette Rogers Robinson (they divorced in 1986) and Ron White.

Motown was sold to MCA Records in 1988 too, so Robinson resigned as vice president. A year later he made his final appearance in the UK top 40, recording Indestructible with the Four Tops. Robinson left Motown as an artist in 1991 for SBK Records, but returned in 1999 for the album Intimate.

He left Motown once more in 2003, this time for good. Three years later came his album of standards – Timeless Love – for Universal Records. In 2009 he released Time Flies When You’re Having Fun on his own label, Robso Records. It was his most successful in 22 years.

Robinson experienced something of a comeback over the next few years, with each album charting higher than the last, peaking with Smokey & Friends in 2014, which featured Elton John and Linda Ronstadt.

As a singer best known for romantic, often slushy material, Robinson shocked many with his most recent album, called, er, Gasms. This concept album dealt primarily with, surprise surprise, sex! Behind the scenes, Robinson was known as a bit of a ladies man, indulging in many affairs while with Claudette, including Diana Ross.

The Outro

For a much better example of later period Motown Robinson, try Cruisin’, not Being With You.

The Info

Written by

William Robinson Jr

Producers

George Tobin & Mike Piccirillo

Weeks at number 1

2 (13-26 June)

Trivia

23 June: Blue singer Antony Costa
25 June: Actress Sheridan Smith

Deaths

13 June: Actress Joan Benham
15 June: Author Philip Toynbee
17 June: General Richard O’Connor/Welsh rugby player Ike Fowler
18 June: Rugby player Stan Brogden/Actor Richard Goolden/Novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson/Conservative MP Robert Taylor
20 June: Labour MP Gordon Lang

Meanwhile…

13 June: Marcus Sarjeant shoots six blank cartridges at Queen Elizabeth II as she enters Horse Guards Parade.

13–14 June: 80 people are arrested when fighting breaks out between white power skinheads and black people in Coventry. 

15 June: Lord Scarman opens an enquiry into the Brixton riots.

16 June: The SDP-Liberal Alliance is formed.

17 June: War hero Sir Richard O’Connor dies shortly before his 92nd birthday.

20 June: The HMS Ark Royal is launched.

21 June: One person is killed and 16 are injured due to a fire at Goodge Street tube station.

23 June: Unemployment reaches 2,680,977.

303. Diana Ross – I’m Still Waiting (1971)

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The Intro

How much power did Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn have in 1971? Quite a lot it seems, as it’s thanks to him that Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep topped the charts, and only a few months later he persuaded EMI (who distributed for Motown in the UK) to release this album track by the former Supremes singer as a single. It went on to become Diana Ross’s first solo number 1.

Before

I covered The Supremes when I reviewed their 1964 number 1 Baby Love, but Ross’s life deserves a closer look. She was born in Detroit, Michigan on 26 March 1944. Her mother actually named her Diane, but a clerical error resulted in ‘Diana’ appearing on her birth certificate. She was billed as Diane Ross on early Supremes records. Growing up, Ross had Smokey Robinson and Aretha Frankin among her neighbours.

On the day she turned 14 in 1958, the Ross’s moved to the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects. She had ambitions to be a fashion designer and took several classes, in addition to modelling and hairdressing for neighbours. A year later, she joined Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Betty McGlown in The Primettes, the sister group of The Primes.

Thanks to Robinson, The Primettes auditioned for Motown in 1960. Berry Gordy Jr recalled being blown away by Ross’s voice in his autobiography, but he felt they were too young. In these early years, Ross would be responsible for the group’s look, serving as hair stylist, costume design and make-up artist.

In 1961, with McGlown gone and Barbara Martin in, Gordy signed The Primettes on the condition they change their name. Ballard chose ‘The Supremes’, and Ross was worried it made them sound like a male group, but as we know, The Supremes they became, and from 1963 onwards, reduced to a trio without Martin, they became one of the most successful groups in history. They scored their sole UK number 1 with Baby Love, but had many more in the US.

From around 1966 and for the next few years Gordy began pushing for Ross to take centre stage. He had considered getting her to go solo, but deciding the timing was wrong he settled on renaming them Diana Ross & the Supremes instead. Ballard was fired and replaced with Cindy Birdsong, and Ross would often be the only Supreme to actually feature on recordings, backed by session singers like The Andantes. The pressure resulted in Ross developing anorexia, and she collapsed on stage during a 1967 performance, and had to be hospitalised for exhaustion.

Nevertheless, Gordy continued to shine the spotlight on Ross, having her perform solo in 1968 TV specials by The Supremes. The following year he decided the time was right, and it was announced she was leaving the group. Someday We’ll Be Together became Ross’s swansong, and the single was the final US number 1 of the 60s. She made her final appearance as a Supreme in January 1970.

It was only four months later that her eponymous debut solo LP was released, and it featured her cover of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (originally recorded by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell), which climbed to number six in the UK and was number 1 in the US.

November 1970 saw the rush-release of her second album, Everything Is Everything. Deke Richards was commissioned to make the LP more pop than her debut, and it featured two Beatles covers (Come Together and The Long and Winding Road), as well as a sad ballad by Richards himself – I’m Still Waiting. No singles were released from it, initially, with Motown choosing to mine her next album, Surrender, released in the summer of 1971. Unusually, both Remember Me and the title track performed better on these shores than America, both reaching the top 10.

Blackburn, then in charge of the Radio 1 breakfast show, was a huge fan of Ross, and he loved I’m Still Waiting. He promised Motown/EMI that if it was made a single, he would make it his ‘Record of the Week’ and play it every morning for five days. Both sides kept their end of the arrangement, and the hype saw it reach number 1. It was Motown’s biggest-selling single in the UK until Three Times a Lady by the Commodores in 1978.

Review

I’m baffled as to why this is the case. For me, I’m Still Waiting should have remained an album track. It’s dated, melodramatic and rather unmemorable.

Ross sings from the point of view of a woman who met the love of her life when she was five and he was 10. He would tease her, as boys do, but she loved him. Then he had to move away, and told her not to wait for him, but for love. But Ross couldn’t forget him, and nobody else compares.

Nice sentiment, but it could have been so much better. It has a slick production, but the tune is certainly not up there with the classics of The Supremes. Ross isn’t known for displaying too much emotion in her singing, which is probably a good thing in such a sentimental song, but I find it hard to believe in the performance. I much prefer her next number 1, Chain Reaction, which came 15 years later in 1986.

The Outro

An ill-advised dance remix of I’m Still Waiting by DJ Phil Chill reached 21 in 1990.

The Info

Written & produced by

Deke Richards

Weeks at number 1

4 (21 August-17 September)

Trivia

Births

26 August: Actress Gaynor Faye
29 August: Business executive Nicola Mendelsohn
31 August: TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp
1 September: Conservative MP Daniel Hannan
2 September: TV presenter Lisa Snowdon
13 September: Actress Louise Lombard/Fashion designer Stella McCartney
17 September: Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda

Deaths

18 August: Travel writer Peter Fleming

Meanwhile…

1 September: The end of an era, as the pre-decimal penny and three-pence ceased to be legal tender.

3 September: Qatar became independent from the UK.

7 September: Three years after the beginnings of The Troubles, the death toll reached 100 with the death of 14-year-old Annette McGavigan, who was fatally wounded by a gunshot in crossfire between British soldiers and the IRA. There would be many more deaths still to come.

9 September: British Ambassador Geoffrey Jackson was freed after being held captive for eight months by extreme left-wing guerrillas Tupamaros in Uruguay.

290. Smokey Robinson and The Miracles – The Tears of a Clown (1970)

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The Intro

Much like Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through the Grapevine in 1969, The Tears of a Clown was an album track by Motown legends, several years old, that could have easily languished as a forgotten album track, but is now considered a soul classic.

Before

William Robinson Jr was born 19 February 1940 in Detroit, Michigan. It was his uncle Claude that gave him the nickname ‘Smokey Joe’ while he was still young. He was a clever child, and sporty, but he really loved music. In a 2007 interview with CBS Robinson revealed he and Aretha Franklin lived only a few doors down from each other, and he had known her since she was five.

Robinson formed a doo-wop group called The Five Chimes in 1955, which included schoolfriends Ronald White and Pete Moore. They changed their name two years later to The Matadors. The line-up then consisted of Robinson, White, Moore and cousins Bobby and Claudette Rogers (who Robinson married in 1959).

The Matadors auditioned for Brunswick Records but failed. However, among those watching was songwriter Berry Gordy Jr, who was impressed with Robinson’s voice in particular. Gordy recorded what was to become their debut single around the time they settled on The Miracles as their name. Got a Job was given to End Records to distribute – Gordy made the princely sum of $3.19 for his production, and Robinson suggested he start his own record label. Which he did, in 1959, and he called it Tamla Records. Bad Girl became their first single to chart in the US, and around this time guitarist Marv Tarplin, fresh from playing with The Primettes (later The Supremes) joined Robinson and co to form the classic line-up.

The Miracles’ first hit came in 1960, when Shop Around reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the R’n’B chart. It was only modest successes on Motown Records after that until the classic You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me in 1962. The group’s brand of bittersweet, smooth soul, with Robinson’s beautiful voice, made them Motown’s top-selling act and earned them rave reviews for their live performances, which helped them become known as ‘The Showstoppers’.

But The Miracles were so talented, they all helped write some of Motown’s greatest songs sung by other groups. I’m talking soul classics such as The Way You Do the Things You Do and My Girl for The Temptations and My Guy by Mary Wells. Most other Motown acts had their songs written by staff songwriters, but The Miracles mostly recorded their own.

Around 1964, Robinson was made vice president of Motown, and other members of The Miracles took jobs within the label. Unfortunately, Smokey and Claudette made plans to start a family, but the intense touring schedule was believed to contribute to several miscarriages by Claudette, and in 1965 she quit touring, TV and and publicity photos, despite continuing to record until 1972.

That same year they finally made their way into the UK singles chart with one of Motown’s best songs, The Tracks of My Tears, from the album Going to a Go-Go, reaching number nine. From this album onwards they became known as Smokey Robinson and The Miracles. In 1966 (Come Round Here) I’m the One You Need reached number 13.

At that year’s Motown Christmas Party, Robinson was approached by fellow label legend Stevie Wonder with a backing track he had come up with along with his producer Hank Cosby. Wonder wondered (sorry) if Robinson wanted to work on it, as he was stumped for any lyrics. After a few days, Robinson felt inspired to come up with something circus-themed to match the distinctive opening, and went back to the clown in the opera Pagliacci, who puts on a show for his audience while crying on the inside. He had used this before in the 1964 song My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down), written for Carolyn Crawford. Weirdly, Little Stevie Wonder covered (I’m Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over, which also referenced Pagliacci, on his album Tribute to Uncle Ray in 1962.

For that famous circus-like opening, they hired Charles Sirard from The Detroit Symphony Orchestra to play the bassoon, which is the low burbling sound beneath the piccolo by Jim Horn. Horn would also feature on albums by The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.

The Tears of a Clown became the closing track on Smokey Robinson and The Miracles’ 1967 album Make It Happen. And, unbelievably, there it stayed for three years. In the meantime I Second That Emotion was a top 30 hit on these shores that year, but then the UK hits dried up once more.

By 1969, Robinson was ready to quit the group and concentrate on his role as Motown vice president and be at home more for Claudette, as they had finally started a family. But all that was to change in 1970, when the frustrated British division of Motown asked Karen Spreadbury, head of a Motown fan club here, to pick a song they could release as a single, and she chose The Tears of a Clown.

Review

Motown may be a legendary label, and for good reason, but you do have to wonder about how many hits they let slip through the net when you look at the stories behind The Tears of a Clown and I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Perhaps Gordy (and Wonder, before he became more experimental) found that opening too weird, without realising its exactly that which draws the listener in to begin with. But Robinson was such an expert songsmith he’s able to keep up the momentum, with his always wonderful, soaring vocal and great lyrics.

The idea of a song about a man masking his pain had been done plenty of times before, including by Robinson himself on The Tracks of My Tears. However, I’d argue Robinson’s lyrics here make The Tears of a Clown the definitive example. I particularly like ‘But don’t let my glad expression/Give you the wrong impression’ and the chorus. Robinson is a man on top of his game here. A sad song about heartbreak that’s uplifting and you can dance to it. Oh, and of course, Robinson’s voice. What’s not to love?

After

The renewed interest in Smokey Robinson and The Miracles meant The Tears of a Clown was then released in the US, albeit in a new mix. It reached number 1 in their home country too.

This double success persuaded Robinson to stay on as lead singer for longer. They had their own TV special in the US, The Smokey Robinson Show, also starring The Supremes, The Temptations and Stevie Wonder. One more hit, 1971’s I Don’t Blame You at All followed, and then Robinson decided it was time to go in 1972, introducing Billy Griffin as his replacement. Their final album together was Flying High Together, including the ironic single We’ve Come Too Far To End It Now. Claudette chose to retire entirely from the group too, and within a year Tarplin had gone.

Their first releases in 1973 landed without trace, but they scored a 1974 US hit with funk song Do It Baby. And then in 1976 came the great disco smash Love Machine – Part 1, which was a US number 1 and reached number three in the UK. Despite this, The Miracles left Motown and signed with Columbia Records in 1977, but the hits dried up again, and they split in 1978.

In 1980 The New Miracles were formed and lasted three years. Then in 1983 the Robinsons, Moore, Tarplin and Rogers reunited to perform a medley on the TV special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever.

In 1993 White, Rogers and New Miracles member Dave Finley reformed The Miracles with former Shalamar singer Sydney Justin. Sadly White died in 1995. The group continued to perform until 2011, with even Claudette returning to the fold (now divorced from Smokey), but age caught up with some of the longest-serving members. Tarplin died in 2011, then Rogers in 2013, then Moore in 2017.

The Outro

Smokey Robinson went on to have a solo UK number 1 in 1981 with Being With You, so I’ll cover his solo career and the controversy with his entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in due course.

The Tears of a Clown has been covered time and time again, and the most notable version is Tears of a Clown, a well-deserved number six hit for ska and new wave group The Beat in 1979.

The Info

Written by

Hank Cosby, Smokey Robinson & Stevie Wonder

Producers

Hank Cosby & Smokey Robinson

Weeks at number 1

1 (12-18 September)

Trivia

Births

18 September: Cricketer Darren Gough

Meanwhile…

18 September: US rock star and guitar god Jimi Hendrix, died in London from a suspected drug-induced heart attack, aged only 27.