Monthly archives: February, 2017

Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American vocalist known for her jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics interpretations. Eva released her first album in 1992 titled; ‘The Other Side’ – a set of duets with gogo musician Chuck Brown, followed by a solo album, ‘Live at Blues Alley’ in 1996. Despite winning a Wammie award from the Washington Area Music Association in 1993, Eva Cassidy was virtually unknown outside her native Washington, D.C., when she died of melanoma in 1996.

Battling the melanoma that took her life at 33, she told her mother;
“All I want to do when I get well is sing and travel around with my music”

In 2000, Cassidy’s music was brought to the attention of British audiences when her version of “Over the Rainbow” was played by Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2. Following the overwhelming response, a camcorder recording of “Over the Rainbow”, taken at Blues Alley in Washington, was shown on BBC Two’s Top of the Pops 2. Shortly afterwards, the compilation album Songbird climbed to the top of the UK Albums Charts, almost three years after its initial release. The chart success in the United Kingdom and Ireland led to increased recognition worldwide; her posthumously released recordings, including three UK number 1’s, have sold more than ten million copies. Her music has also charted top 10 in Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland.

At age 11, Cassidy began singing and playing guitar in a Washington area band called Easy Street. This band performed in a variety of styles at weddings, corporate parties and pubs. Due to her shyness, she struggled with performing in front of strangers. While a student at Bowie High School, she sang with a local band called Stonehenge. During the summer of 1983, Cassidy sang and played guitar six days a week at the theme park Wild World. Her younger brother Dan, a fiddler, was also a member of this working band. She enrolled in art classes at a community college but later dropped out. Throughout the 1980s, Cassidy worked with several other bands, including the techno-pop band Characters Without Names. During this period, Cassidy also worked as a propagator at a plant nursery and as a furniture painter. In her free time, she explored other artistic expressions including painting, sculpting and jewelry design.

In 1986, Cassidy was asked by Stonehenge guitarist and high school friend, David Lourim, to lend her voice to his music project, Method Actor. This brought her to Black Pond Studios, where she met bassist and recording engineer Chris Biondo. Biondo helped her find work as a session singer and later introduced her to Al Dale, who would become her manager. She sang back-ups for various acts, from go-go rhythm and blues band Experience Unlimited to rapper E-40. Biondo and Cassidy, who were in a romantic relationship for a time, formed the five-piece “Eva Cassidy Band” with Lenny Williams, Keith Grimes and Raice McLeod in 1990. They began to perform frequently in the Washington area.

In 1992, Biondo played a tape of Cassidy’s voice for Chuck Brown, the “Godfather of go-go”. It resulted in the duet album The Other Side featuring performances of classic songs such as “Fever”, “God Bless the Child,” and what would later become Cassidy’s signature song, “Over the Rainbow”. The album was released and distributed in 1992 by Liaison Records, the label that also released Brown’s Go-go albums. Brown originally intended to record a single duet with Cassidy for his next solo album, but this was postponed due to ongoing negotiations between Dale and other labels for a solo deal. Cassidy’s unwillingness to narrow her stylistic focus to one genre hindered her chances of securing a deal. After talks broke down, the two decided to record their own duet album. As a duo, they performed at the Columbia Arts Festival and opened for acts like Al Green and The Neville Brothers.

In 1993, Cassidy was honored by the Washington Area Music Association with a Wammie award for the Vocalist Jazz/Traditional category. The next year she was invited to perform at the event and chose to sing “Over the Rainbow”. A Washington Times review of the event called her performance “a show-stopper. She took home two Wammies that night, again for Vocalist Jazz/Traditional and also for Roots Rock/Traditional R&B. For a brief period that year, Cassidy signed a deal with Blue Note Records to pair up with pop-jazz band Pieces of a Dream to release an album and tour the country. She sang two tracks in a mainly instrumental album later saying it had been a musically unsatisfying experience for her.

After having a potential contract with Apollo Records collapse when the label went bankrupt, Biondo and Dale decided that she should release her own live album. In January 1996, the material for Live at Blues Alley was recorded over a two-day period at Blues Alley, Washington, D.C. Due to a technical glitch on the first night of recording, only the second night’s recording was usable. Unhappy with the way she sounded due to a cold, she was reluctant to release the album. She eventually relented, on the condition that the studio track “Oh, Had I a Golden Thread”, Cassidy’s favorite song, would be included in the release, and that they start working on a follow-up studio album. Her apprehension appeared unfounded as local reviewers and the public responded positively. The Washington Post commented that “she could sing anything — folk, blues, pop, jazz, R&B, gospel — and make it sound like it was the only music that mattered.” The subsequent studio album she worked on was released as Eva by Heart posthumously in 1997. In the liner notes of Eva by Heart, critic Joel E. Siegel described Cassidy as “one of the greatest voices of her generation.”

In 1993, Cassidy had a malignant mole removed from her back. Three years later, during a promotional event for the Live at Blues Alley album in July 1996, Cassidy noticed an ache in her hips, which she attributed to stiffness from painting murals while perched atop a stepladder. The pain persisted and a few weeks later, X-rays revealed that the melanoma had spread to her lungs and bones. Her doctors estimated she had three to five months to live. Cassidy opted for aggressive treatment, but her health deteriorated rapidly. In the early fall, at a benefit concert for her at the Bayou, she made her final public appearance, closing the set with “What a Wonderful World” in front of an audience of friends, fans and family. Additional chemotherapy was unavailing, and in six weeks she had died.

Cassidy died on November 2, 1996, at her family home in Bowie. She was 33. In accordance with her wishes, her body was cremated and the ashes were scattered on the lake shores of St. Mary’s River Watershed Park, a nature reserve near California, Maryland.

After Cassidy’s death, local folk singer Grace Griffith introduced the Blues Alley recordings to Bill Straw from her label, Blix Street Records. Straw approached the Cassidy family to put together a new album. In 1998, a compilation of tracks from Cassidy’s three released recordings was assembled into the CD Songbird.

 

This CD lingered in relative obscurity for two years until being given airplay by Terry Wogan on his wide-reaching BBC Radio 2 show Wake Up to Wogan, following recommendation by his producer Paul Walters. The album sold more than 100,000 copies in the following months. The New York Times spoke of her “silken soprano voice with a wide and seemingly effortless range, unerring pitch and a gift for phrasing that at times was heart-stoppingly eloquent.”

Before Christmas of 2000, Top Of The Pops 2 aired a video of Cassidy performing “Over the Rainbow”, which resulted in Songbird climbing steadily up the UK charts over the next few weeks. Just as ITV’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald aired a feature on Cassidy, the album topped the chart. Shot at Blues Alley by a friend with a camcorder the same night the album was recorded, the video became the most requested video ever shown on Top Of The Pops 2. “There’s an undeniable emotional appeal in hearing an artist who you know died in obscurity singing a song about hope and a mystical world beyond everyday life”, wrote The Guardian.

Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton were among her new-found fans. Jazz critic Ted Gioia writes, “you might be tempted to write off the ‘Cassidy sensation’  as a response to the sad story of the singer’s abbreviated life rather than as a measure of her artistry. But don’t be mistaken, Cassidy was a huge talent, whose obscurity during her lifetime was almost as much a tragedy as her early death.” Songbird has since achieved significant chart success throughout Europe and six times platinum status in the UK. Although still relatively unknown in the United States at that time, the album would eventually be certified gold in the U.S. as well.

In May 2001, ABC’s Nightline in the United States broadcast a well-received short documentary about Cassidy. Over the weekend, all five of Cassidy’s albums occupied Amazon.com’s best sellers list top spots. The Nightline episode has since been rebroadcast three times due to popular demand. Producer Leroy Sievers has said that it is “probably the most popular Nightline ever”. In December, a nine-minute segment on NPR resulted in a similar sales surge, with five of the top seven spots going to Cassidy. A rebroadcast of the Tonight with Trevor McDonald feature on Cassidy in Britain also bumped up sales.

Since Songbird, several other CDs with original material have been released: Time After Time (2000), Imagine (2002) and American Tune (2003)

. 2008 saw the release of another new album titled Somewhere. Unlike previous albums, which consisted solely of cover songs, this release contains two original songs co-written by Cassidy. An acoustic album titled Simply Eva was released in January 2011.

Together with word of mouth and internet fansites, online commerce has played a big role in Cassidy’s success. This point was further affirmed when in 2005, Amazon.com released a list of its top 25 best-selling musicians, which placed Cassidy in fifth position, behind The Beatles, U2, Norah Jones and Diana Krall, and far ahead of Elvis Presley and several other well-known stars.

In 2004, during the gala opening of the Bowie Center for the Performing Arts, the Bowie Regional Arts Vision Association, Inc. (BRAVA) dedicated the Star’s Dressing Room to Eva. Following a moving tribute to Eva, Chuck Brown took the stage and performed his duet “with” Eva as her photos and video appeared in the background.
In 2001, a book titled Songbird: Eva Cassidy: Her Story By Those Who Knew Her, on the life and work of Cassidy based on interviews with close family and associates was released in the UK. The hardcover edition has since sold in excess of 100,000 copies. A U.S. edition published by Gotham Books was released in late 2003 and includes two additional chapters on her influences and success in the US. Her life story has also been adapted into a musical and also a Broadway piece for cancer benefit.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics gala, and later on tour, figure skater Michelle Kwan brought Cassidy’s music to a new audience when she skated to a recording of “Fields of Gold”. Kwan’s part in exposing the music of Cassidy to the international and American public led Cassidy’s label to present her a gold record from the certification of Songbird. Subsequently, other figure skaters such as Kristi Yamaguchi, Sarah Hughes and Kimmie Meissner have used Cassidy’s music in their routines.

Anglo-Georgian singer Katie Melua is a keen fan of Cassidy. Her debut album “Call off the Search” contained the song “Faraway Voice”, written in Cassidy’s memory. Melua has also performed Cassidy’s arrangement of “Anniversary Song” in concert. On Christmas Eve 2006, she performed alongside video footage of Cassidy singing Over The Rainbow on BBC One’s “Duet Impossible”. One year later, Cassidy’s “What A Wonderful World” was spliced together with new vocals by Melua and released as a single exclusively at the British retail chain Tesco. It debuted at #1 on the UK Singles chart on December 16. All profits from the single went to the British Red Cross. Irish singer Chris de Burgh has stated that his song “Songbird” from his album The Road to Freedom was written in honour of Cassidy. Singer Mary Chapin Carpenter made reference to Cassidy in the song “My Heaven” on the album Between Here and Gone: “More memories than my heart can hold, when Eva’s singing ‘Fields of Gold.”

In late 2007, AIR Productions acquired the rights to produce a film based on Cassidy’s life. It is being produced by Amy Redford (daughter of Robert Redford), Irwin Shapiro and Rick Singer. In an interview a year earlier, Cassidy’s parents suggested Kirsten Dunst or Emily Watson as possible actresses who could play their daughter.
In 2008, Cassidy’s recording of “Autumn Leaves” was used by the Canadian National Professional Latin Champions, Andre and Natalie Paramonov, when they competed in America’s Ballroom Challenge as finalists in the International Latin Competition.

The first film to feature an Eva Cassidy recording was Flight of Fancy starring Dean Cain. Since then her music has appeared in various film and TV series including the Dawson’s Creek season four episode titled “The Graduate,” Judging Amy, Joe Somebody, Love Actually, Maid in Manhattan, The Man From Elysian Fields, Alpha Dog and Smallville. Cassidy’s arrangement of “Over the Rainbow” is a popular cover choice by singing competition contestants, with American Idol season 5 runner-up Katharine McPhee and The X Factor season 3 winner Leona Lewis among the singers. Her interpretation of “Imagine” has been performed by American Idol season 7 runner-up David Archuleta.

In March 2012, Sweden’s Caroline Larsson and Bengt Magnusson released an album entitled A Tribute to Eva Cassidy.

The Eva Cassidy biography Behind the Rainbow by Johan Bakker won The People’s Book Prize 2011/2012 in London on May 30, 2012.

A documentary on the life, art and music of Cassidy entitled Eva’s Song is expected to be in theaters February 2013.

Albums
The Other Side             (CD, Album) Cbd. music     1992     (Chuck Brown and Eva Cassidy)
Live At Blues Alley         Blix Street Records     1998
Songbird                       S&P Records     1998
Eva By Heart                 Blix Street Records     1998
Eva By Heart                 Blix Street Records     1998
Time After Time            Didgeridoo Records     2000
No Boundaries              Renata Records     2000
Imagine                         Didgeridoo Records     2002
American Tune              Didgeridoo Records     2003
Wonderful World            Didgeridoo Records, Hot Records 2004
Somewhere                   Blix Street Records 2008

Singles & EP
Over The Rainbow                  Hot Records      1998
It Doesn’t Matter Anymore      Hot Records      2002
Wade In The Water                 Blix Street Records     2006
What A Wonderful World        Tesco     2007     (Eva Cassidy & Katie Melua
San Francisco Bay Blues        Blix Street Records     2011
Songbird                                 Blix Street Records     2011

Compilations
Simply Eva                                 Blix Street Records     2011

Videos
Sings (DVD-V, PAL)                    Didgeridoo Records     2004

Philip David Charles “Phil” Collins, LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis, Brand X, a solo artist, producer (Eric Clapton, John Martyn, Adam Ant, Howard Jones, Frida, Robert Plant etc.), author and session musician.

Wife: Andrea Bertorelli (m. 1976, div. 1980, one daughter, one son)
Daughter: Joely Collins (b. 8-Aug-1972, adopted by Collins)
Son: Simon (b. 14-Sep-1976)
Wife: Jill Tavelman (m. 1984, div. 1996, one daughter)
Daughter: Lily Collins [Pictured] (actress, b. 18-Mar-1990)
Wife: Orianne Cevey (m. 1999, separated 2006, two sons)
Son: Nicholas (b. 21-Apr-2001)
Son: Matthew (b. 1-Dec-2004)
Girlfriend: Dana Tyler (CBS news presenter, together since 2007)

University: Barbara Speake Stage School (acting school)

Genesis Drummer/Vocalist (1970-91)
Brand X Drummer (1974-77 and 1979-82)
Songwriters Hall of Fame
Endorsement of Anheuser-Busch Michelob Miracle Tour (1987)
Risk Factors: Depression

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
The Jungle Book 2 (5-Feb-2003) [VOICE] Balto (22-Dec-1995) [VOICE] Frauds (16-Sep-1993)
And the Band Played On (11-Sep-1993)
It’s the Monty Python Story (1993) · Himself
Hook (11-Dec-1991)
Buster (3-Nov-1988) · Buster
Live Aid (13-Jul-1985) · Himself
The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball (21-May-1982) · Himself

Collins sang the lead vocals on several chart hits in the United Kingdom and the United States between 1975 and 2010, either as a solo artist or with Genesis. His singles, sometimes dealing with lost love, ranged from the drum-heavy “In the Air Tonight”, dance pop of “Sussudio”, piano-driven “Against All Odds”, to the political statements of “Another Day in Paradise”.

Collins’ professional music career began as a drummer, first with Flaming Youth and then more famously with Genesis. In Genesis, Collins originally supplied backing vocals for front man Peter Gabriel, singing lead on only two songs: “For Absent Friends” from 1971’s Nursery Cryme album and “More Fool Me” from Selling England by the Pound, which was released in 1973. Following Gabriel’s departure in 1975, Collins became the group’s lead singer.

His solo career, heavily influenced by his personal life, brought both him and Genesis commercial success. According to Atlantic Records, Collins’ total worldwide sales as a solo artist, as of 2000, were 150 million. Collins has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including seven Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards—winning Best British Male three times, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes for his solo work. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Collins is one of only three recording artists (along with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson) who have sold over 100 million albums worldwide both as solo artists and (separately) as principal members of a band. When his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins had more top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the 1980s than any other artist. In 2008, Collins was ranked the 22nd most successful artist on the “The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists”

In October 2009, it was reported that Collins was to record a Motown covers album. He told a German newspaper, “I want the songs to sound exactly like the originals”, and that the album would feature up to 30 songs. In January 2010, Chester Thompson said that the album had been completed and would be released some time soon. He also revealed that Collins managed to play the drums on the album despite the adverse effects of his recent spinal operation. It was the first solo album Collins had recorded which consisted entirely of songs written by other people.

Going Back was released on 13 September 2010, entering the UK charts at number 4, rising to number one the following week. In early summer 2010, Collins played six concerts entirely dedicated to the music from Going Back. These included a special programme, Phil Collins: One Night Only, which was broadcast on ITV1 on 18 September 2010.

As of January 2011, Collins has spent 1,730 weeks in German music charts – 766 weeks of them with Genesis albums and singles and 964 weeks with solo releases.

Citing health problems and other concerns, Collins announced on 4 March 2011 that he was taking time off from his career, prompting widespread reports of his retirement. Days later, on 7 March, his UK representative told the press, “He is not, has no intention of, retiring.” However, later that day, Collins posted a message to his fans on his own website, confirming his intention to retire in order to focus on his family life.

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In loving memory of Spencer  1969 – 2000

William “Smokey” Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company’s founder, Berry Gordy. Robinson’s consistent commercial success and creative contributions to the label have earned him the title “King of Motown.” As an original member of Motown Records’ first vocal group The Miracles and as a solo artist, Robinson delivered many U.S. and U.K. Top 40 hits for Motown between 1960 and 1987. He also served as the company’s vice president from 1961 to 1988. He is currently married to Frances Robinson. Robinson was born and raised in the North End neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan.

According to Entertainment Weekly, “when he was 6 or 7, his Uncle Claude christened him “Smokey Joe,” which the young William, a Western-movie enthusiast, at first assumed to be “his cowboy name for me.” Some time later, he learned the deeper significance of his nickname: It derived from smokey, a pejorative term for dark-skinned blacks. “I’m doing this,” his uncle told the light-skinned boy, “so you won’t ever forget that you’re black.”

In his teens, “Smokey Joe” was shortened to “Smokey.” In an interview, Robinson stated that he has been friends with fellow Motown artist Diana Ross since she was eight years old. Around this time Robinson began listening to Nolan Strong & The Diablos, a Fortune Records recording artist. Strong’s high tenor voice would be a primary influence on Robinson. In a 2008 interview with Goldmine, Robinson said: “There was a guy who lived in Detroit and had a group called The Diablos. His name was Nolan Strong. They were my favorite vocalists at that time.”

Berry Gordy

In 1955, Robinson co-founded a vocal group called The Five Chimes with his best friend Ronald White, and Northern High School classmates Pete Moore, Clarence Dawson, and James Grice. By 1957, the group was renamed the Matadors and included cousins Emerson and Bobby Rogers in place of Dawson and Grice. Emerson was replaced by his sister Claudette Rogers.Guitarist Marv Tarplin joined the group in 1958. With Robinson as lead singer, the Matadors began touring Detroit venues.

After finishing high school Robinson made plans to attend college, with his studies to begin in January 1959. However, in August 1958, Robinson met songwriter Berry Gordy and, as he awaited his enrollment in school, Robinson pursued his musical career with Gordy, who co-wrote for the Miracles the single “Got a Job,” an answer song to the Silhouettes’ hit single “Get a Job.” The group renamed itself the Miracles, and began recording with Gordy on the End Records label in November 1958.

Robinson has said that he did, in fact, enroll in college and began classes that January, studying electrical engineering. However, The Miracles’ first record was released a few weeks later and Robinson left school shortly thereafter, his college career having lasted approximately two months.

The Miracles would go on to issue singles on both End Records and Chess Records, and Robinson suggested to Gordy that he start a label of his own.

In 1959, Gordy founded Tamla Records, which he soon reincorporated as Motown. The Miracles were among the label’s first signees. Gordy and Robinson had a synergistic relationship, with Robinson providing a foundation for Motown’s hit-making success and Gordy acting as a mentor for the budding singer and songwriter. By 1961, Gordy had appointed Robinson vice-president of Motown Records, a title Robinson held for as long as Gordy remained with the company.

The 1960 single “Shop Around” was not only Motown’s first number one hit on the R&B singles chart, but the first major chart success for The Miracles. The song was also Motown’s first million-selling hit single, and reached # 1 on the Cash Box Magazine Pop Chart.

Besides creating hits for his own group, Robinson wrote and produced singles and album tracks for other Motown artists. Mary Wells had a number one hit with Robinson’s song “My Guy” (1964), and Robinson served as The Temptations’ primary songwriter and producer from 1963 to 1966, penning such hits as “The Way You Do the Things You Do”, “My Girl”, “Since I Lost My Baby”, and “Get Ready”. Among Robinson’s other Motown compositions are “Still Water (Love)” by The Four Tops, “Don’t Mess With Bill” and “My Baby Must Be a Magician” by The Marvelettes, “When I’m Gone” by Brenda Holloway, “Ain’t That Peculiar” and “I’ll Be Doggone” by Marvin Gaye, and “First I Look at the Purse” by The Contours.

His hit songs also earned him the title “America’s poet laureate of love.” During the course of his 50-year career in music, Robinson has accumulated more than 4,000 songs to his credit. John Lennon of The Beatles made countless remarks regarding Robinson’s influence on his music. In a 1969 interview, Lennon stated that one of his favorite songs was The Miracles’ “I’ve Been Good To You”, which has similar lyrics to Lennon’s “Sexy Sadie”. George Harrison also greatly admired Robinson and paid tribute to him in the 1976 song “Pure Smokey”. Additionally, “Ooh Baby (You Know That I Love You)” from Harrison’s Extra Texture (Read All About It) was dedicated to Robinson. (The Beatles had recorded Robinson and The Miracles’ “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” in 1963.) The Miracles remained a premier Motown act through most of the 1960s. The group’s billing was changed to “Smokey Robinson & the Miracles” after 1966. By 1969, the group’s fortunes began to falter, and Robinson decided to quit The Miracles so that he could remain at home with his family and concentrate on his duties as vice president. The group stopped recording and Robinson prepared to leave the group. Unexpectedly, however, their 1969 recording “Baby, Baby Don’t Cry” hit the national Billboard Pop Top 10, and when their 1967 recording of “The Tears of a Clown” was released as a single in 1970, it became a number-one hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

With the surprise success of “The Tears of a Clown”, Robinson chose to remain with The Miracles for a few more years. In 1972, however, he followed through on his original plans to leave the group, and The Miracles began a six-month farewell tour. On July 16, 1972, Smokey Robinson gave his final performance as a Miracle at the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Washington, D.C., and Robinson introduced the group’s new lead singer, Billy Griffin. The Miracles went on for a while, even having another million-seller with “Do It Baby”* (1974), a multi-million selling number one hit, “Love Machine”, in 1975, and a Platinum Album with City Of Angels that same year. (Reference: The Book Of Golden Discs- by Joseph Murrells) *

Smokey Robinson began a low-key solo career while concentrating on his duties as vice president of Motown, releasing his first solo LP, Smokey, in 1973. His first hit single, “Sweet Harmony” (1973), was dedicated to The Miracles.

In 1975, Robinson’s solo career took off with the success of the number one R&B hit “Baby That’s Backatcha”. Robinson’s 1976 single “Quiet Storm” and its accompanying album typified a genre of smooth, slow R&B that has spawned late-night radio shows called “quiet storm”. Other Robinson solo hits include “Cruisin'” (1979), “Being With You” (a global chart-topper in 1981), “Tell Me Tomorrow” (1982), and “Ebony Eyes”, a duet with labelmate Rick James (1983). He also recorded the soundtrack to the film Big Time (1977).

During the mid-1980s, Robinson was addicted to cocaine and his recording slowed. With the help of friend Leon Kennedy (as described in Robinson’s autobiography Smokey published in 1989), Robinson was dramatically healed of his addiction at a religious service. He eventually revitalized his career, having hits in 1987 with the Grammy Award-winning “Just to See Her” (which topped the Pop, R&B, and Adult Contemporary charts in 1987) and “One Heartbeat” (Top Ten Pop, R&B, and A/C). Also in 1987, British band ABC scored a U.S. and U.K. hit with their tribute to Robinson entitled “When Smokey Sings”. In 1987, Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. Controversially, the other original members of the Miracles – Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White, Pete Moore, Marv Tarplin, and Claudette Rogers – were not inducted.

When Motown was sold to MCA in 1988, Robinson resigned from his position as vice president. After one last album for Motown, Love, Smokey (1990), Robinson left the label. He released one record for SBK Records, Double Good Everything (1991), the same year he won a Soul Train Music Award for Career Achievement. Eight years later, he returned to Motown, which by then was a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and released Intimate (1999). The same year, Smokey Robinson received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2002, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

Since then, Smokey has continued to perform and tour periodically. In 2003, Robinson served as a guest judge for American Idol during “Billy Joel Week.” He issued a gospel LP, Food for the Spirit in 2004. In 2005, Smokey Robinson was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. A new album of pop standards from the early 20th century, Timeless Love, was released in June 2006. It was originally recorded with a jazz combo, but strings were added after the fact, giving the album more of a lush sound but removing much of the jazz feeling of the disc.

In 2004, Robinson’s company, SFGL Foods, launched a special brand of gumbo called “Smokey Robinson’s ‘The Soul is in the Bowl’ Gumbo”. Smokey Robinson is the spokesman of the Great American Smokeout, which takes place annually one week before Thanksgiving. It is a day when smokers quit smoking for at least a day.

Robinson has appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, the NBC daytime drama Days of our Lives, and on The Rachael Ray Show. He also appeared on Duets on Fox-TV along with Richard Marx, Aaron Neville, Cyndi Lauper, Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle, Kenny Loggins, Clint Black, Brian McKnight, Michael Bolton, Macy Gray, Randy Travis, and the legendary Dionne Warwick. Producer David Foster was a judge.

At its 138th Commencement Convocation in May 2006, Howard University conferred on Robinson the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa. In December 2006 Robinson was one of five Kennedy Center honorees, along with Dolly Parton (with whom Robinson had recorded a 1987 duet, “I Know You By Heart”), Zubin Mehta, Steven Spielberg and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The ceremony was held on December 3, 2006, and broadcast on CBS on December 26, 2006.

Robinson sang “The Tracks Of My Tears” as a cameo in the 2006 film Last Holiday. Also in late 2006, Robinson reunited with fellow Miracles Bobby Rogers and Pete Moore for the group’s first extended interview. This interview forms the basis of the Universal Music DVD release Smokey Robinson and The Miracles: The Definitive Performances, a video retrospective of the group’s music and career.

On February 11, 2007 Robinson sang “Tracks Of My Tears” at the 49th annual Grammy Awards, as part of a tribute to R&B music which included Motown labelmate Lionel Richie and current R&B star Chris Brown. Robinson was also a judge on the sixth season of American Idol and was claimed to be outdone by contestant Adam Lambert after Lambert sang “Tracks of My Tears.” on Robinson performed on the sixth season finale of American Idol on May 23, 2007. Robinson and the top six male contestants performed a medley of his hits.

In November 2007, Robinson toured Australia and performed with Australian band Human Nature on the set of local television programme Dancing With The Stars. On 22 November 2007, Robinson was interviewed by Bob Rogers on Sydney radio station 2CH.

On August 6, 2008, Robinson appeared at Harlem’s Apollo Theater with English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello to record a television special combining on-stage interview and performance segments.

On March 25, 2009, Robinson appeared as a mentor on the popular television show American Idol. He coached the top 10 contestants of Season 8, who performed classic Motown songs. He also premiered the first single, “You’re the One For Me”, which features Joss Stone. The song also became available on iTunes and Amazon, March 26, 2009. The song is an updated version of the song “You’re The One For Me Bobby,” which he wrote and produced for The Marvelettes in 1968 for their album “Sophisticated Soul.” On March 20, 2009, The Miracles were finally honored as a group with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Smokey was present with original Miracles members Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, (Bobby’s cousin) Claudette Rogers, and Gloria White, accepting for her husband, the late Ronnie White, whose daughter Pamela and granddaughter Maya were there representing him as well. Smokey’s replacement, 1970s Miracles lead singer, Billy Griffin was also honored. Controversially, original Miracle Marv Tarplin was not honored, against the wishes of his fellow Miracles, and the group’s fans, who felt that he should have also been there to share the honor.

On May 9, 2009, Smokey Robinson received an honorary doctorate degree and gave a commencement speech at Berklee College of Music’s commencement ceremony.

Smokey Robinson appeared in episode 22 with Daryl Hall on Live From Daryl’s House.

On August 25, 2009 Robinson released Time Flies When You’re Having Fun. A self-produced-and-written CD of mostly new material on his own RobSo label. The CD includes a cover of the Norah Jones hit “Don’t Know Why”. Special guests on the LP include India Arie, Carlos Santana, and Joss Stone. The Joss Stone duet “You’re the one for me” was performed on American Idol. The CD also contains a homage to early Motown and Michael Jackson with the hidden bonus track “I Want You Back.”

As the finale to the BBC Electric Proms 2009, Robinson and his band appeared on 24 October with the BBC Concert Orchestra at The Roundhouse, London, in a performance to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Motown Records. Brand new arrangements of Robinson’s songs had been specially commissioned by the Electric Proms. The show saw him perform a mix of classics, including those written for other Motown artists as well as himself, and new material from his forthcoming ‘Time Flies When You’re Having Fun’ album. While in the UK Robinson also appeared on Later with Jools Holland (Oct 20), giving a short interview and performing two songs, with Eric Clapton as a backing guitarist (according to Jools Holland during the broadcast, this was at Clapton’s request when he heard that Robinson would be appearing).