On the Scene: Smokey Robinson

In the 58 years since William Robinson Jr., had his first hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart — a million-seller titled “Shop Around”— the man known to millions of fans around the world as “Smokey” has been one of most important figures in contemporary American music. First and foremost as a recording artist with the Miracles and then as a solo artist, but also as a songwriter, a producer of other artists’ hits and as a record company executive. In 1987 Robinson’s place as a cultural icon was commemorated with song written and recorded in his honor, “When Smokey Sings.” Robinson, 78, was in Honolulu last month for a fundraiser sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue at the event space Velocity on Kapiolani Boulevard.

Looking back at your career, the Miracles’ first single, “Got a Job,” was released in 1958 and didn’t chart, but within two years you topped the Billboard Hot 100 with a song you co-wrote with Berry Gordy, and everything took off for you from then. All things considered you got off to a very fast start.

Basically right out of high school, so I’m very, very blessed. I am so blessed. When you can live your life and earn your living doing what you absolutely love — that’s a blessing.

If you could go back to 1960 and give your 20-year-old self some advice, what would it be?

I would tell 20-year-old Smokey Robinson that it’s going to be alright — and to relax, and believe it, because it’s going to be all right. Twenty-year-old Smokey Robinson didn’t know where his life was going, didn’t know what was happening, so that’s what I would tell him.

One of the many great Smokey Robinson stories is about how you were out shopping with a friend who said off-handedly, “I second that emotion,” instead of “I second the motion,” and you wrote a hit song around that phrase. How do you approach writing?

It’s a gift. I look at it as a gift because I’m not a writer who has to go off to the mountains for two months and take time to write. I write even when I don’t want to. It can happen to me on the plane (or) on the toilet.

OK, so what’s your next big project?

I’m working on two separate albums. One is in Spanish — I’ve been learning Spanish for about the past six or seven years, so I’ve written some songs in Spanish. And I’m working on one in English, and I’ve been working for the past two years or so on a script for a movie about my life. I made some corrections on the last draft but I think we have the final draft, so I’m waiting to get that back and see what’s happening.

Do you have any idea about people who might play you?

I have a few people in mind but I don’t want to say anything right now.

Are there any young entertainers you’re watching?

As far as I’m concerned, the best young man out there right now is Bruno Mars. There are so many young girls out there who are great — a lot of great young men are out there too — but Bruno Mars just stands above all the rest for me.

What do you like to do to get away from the music business?

My relaxation — which is not really “relaxation” unless you’re playing good — is golf. Golf can be the most frustrating thing you pick to do that week, but it can also be the best thing. If you play well, then you feel good about it.

There must be a lot of people who’ve told you how songs you’ve written have been the soundtrack for special moments in their lives.

Yes, and it’s always beautiful.

Do people ever come up to you and start singing your songs to you?

All the time. I love it.

Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com