William “Smokey” Robinson Jr., an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former executive director of records, was born on February 19, 1940.

He founded and served as the lead singer for the Motown singing group the Miracles, for which he also served as the group’s primary songwriter and producer.

From the time the group was founded in 1955 as “the Five Chimes” until 1972 when he announced his departure from the band to concentrate on his duties as Motown’s vice president, he served as its leader. The following year, though, Robinson made a solo comeback in the music business. In 1990, Robinson left Motown Records after the label had been sold two years earlier.

Robinson received the 2016 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for his lifelong contributions to popular music in addition to his 1987 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He received a star on the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in 2022.

Following a failed audition for Brunswick Records, Robinson and the Miracles ran into composer Berry Gordy. The quartet released “Shop Around,” which went on to become Motown’s first smash song to sell one million copies. With the Miracle, Robinson would produce 26 top forty hits between 1960 and 1970.

Smokey Robinson worked for Motown as a songwriter and producer, writing many popular songs for Mary Wells, including “Two Lovers,” “The One Who Really Loves You,” “You Beat Me to the Punch,” and “My Guy.” When The Miracles issued their 1965 album Going to a Go-Go, they were the first Motown group to rebrand.

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Smokey Robinson children: Meet Tamla Claudette Robinson, Trey Robinson, Berry William Borope Robinson

In 1959, Robinson married Claudette Rogers, another Miracles bandmate. The couple had two children: a son named Berry Robinson (born 1968), after Berry Gordy, the original label owner of Motown; and a daughter named Tamla Robinson (born 1971), after Gordy’s first “Tamla” label, which would later become Motown.

Throughout his marriage to Claudette, Robinson also had a son by a different woman, Trey, who was born in 1984. Following his admission that he had fathered a kid with someone other than his wife, Robinson first requested a legal separation and then a divorce.

In 1986, the divorce became legally final. The Robinsons also divorced in 1974, and around that time, Robinson had an adulterous relationship that served as the basis for the song “The Agony & The Ecstasy” (later featured on A Quiet Storm).

In May 2002, Robinson wed Frances Gladney. They have a residence in Pittsburgh that they utilize as a winery.

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