Few people in modern music have been as successful and influential on both the creative and business sides of the industry as Smokey Robinson.
The chief singer and songwriter for the Miracles, Robinson, 74, led the group to 26 Top 40 hits in the ’60s. But Robinson was also a pivotal player at Motown Records, where he officially served as vice president for 18 years (1972-1990).
Robinson’s new album, “Smokey & Friends,” finds him singing duets on some of his biggest hits with friends including Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, John Legend and more.
Robinson spoke to The Post about his new project and his illustrious career.
Why a duets album?
If it were left up to me, this would be a 22-volume record. I would have recorded with everybody in the record business.
Let’s discuss a few collaborators. Elton John (“The Tracks of My Tears”).
We’ve been close for a long time — I do a lot for his AIDS charity. My surprise with Elton on this record was how soulful he is. This man is growling, and doing all those soulful runs and stuff.
James Taylor.
James Taylor does the most off-brand rendition of “Ain’t That Peculiar.” James is a Marvin Gaye fanatic. So it didn’t surprise me that he picked a song I had written for Marvin. But he does a rock/soul version of it, and it’s so different from the original.
Jessie J (“Cruisin’ ”).
The girl can “sang,” with an “a,” know what I mean?
Between 1960 and 1970, you wrote, produced and sang 26 Top 40 hits. What was the secret?
If there had been a secret, it would have been 126 [hits]! My first thought going into the studio ever is, I’m going in with a song . . . that, if I had written it 50 years before then, it would have meant something, and today it’s gonna mean something, and 50 years from now it’s gonna mean something. I’ve had surprise songs that did a whole lot more than I ever dared to dream they’d do, and then I’ve had songs I thought were gonna be hits, and weren’t.
I’ve read that you were surprised by the success of “The Tears of a Clown.”
I really was. That was a sleeper record, because it had been out for three years before it became a hit. Stevie Wonder brought me that [instrumental] track in 1967. He said, “Hey, Smoke. I want you to listen to this and see what you can come up with.” So the opening line of that is Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey: “Bum, bum, bum — ba do dat da da da da.”
When I was a kid, I heard this story about Pagliacci. He was the Italian clown who made everybody happy . . . and then he went back to his dressing room and he was sad, because he had the love of the crowd but not of a woman.
So that song is a personalized version of Pagliacci’s life. We recorded it in 1967. In 1970, a young lady who worked for Motown in England was listening to the record in the office. When it came to that song, she told [her boss], “Man, this is a hit. Listen to this.” So they released it there, and it was No. 1 in the UK, and started to snowball.
You were Motown’s VP for almost two decades. Who are some of the acts you found or nurtured?
Diana Ross and the Supremes. I grew up down the street from Diana. So after we started Motown, she called me one day and said she had a group. They were called the Primettes. They came and sang for me, but Berry [Gordy, Motown’s founder] would not let me record them until they graduated from high school. [Eventually,] I brought them over and got them signed.
Are you still close to the label’s staff and artists?
We still have the Motown family for those of us who are still alive. We meet up every now and then.