PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Smokey Robinson performs for a sold out crowd at Lynn Auditorium on Saturday.
By LEAH DEARBORN
LYNN — William “Smokey” Robinson, Jr. proved that he still has soul after four decades of performances.
Fresh from receiving the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for lifetime contributions to popular music last week, the 76-year-old Robinson greeted a full house at Lynn Auditorium on Saturday night.
Wearing a sleek red suit jacket, Robinson started off with “Being with You” from his 1981 album of the same name and moved straight into “I Second That Emotion.”
The acclaimed 1975 track, “Quiet Storm” showed off Robinson’s vocal prowess early in the show and demonstrated that his signature high tenor voice hasn’t deteriorated with age. The song drew a standing ovation from the crowd.
A full band accompanied Robinson, who was in chatty mood and regaled stories from his time at Motown Records, the influential label that helped put him and other African-American artists on the map in the 1960s and ‘70s.
“I grew up at Motown and it was a great place to grow up,” said Robinson, who reflected on his years at the famed record label where he would eventually become vice president.
Robinson joked about the blind Stevie Wonder offering to drive him home from a Motown Christmas party so that he could get to work on “The Tears of a Clown,” a collaboration which reached No. 1 on pop and R&B charts within two months of its release in 1970.
Robinson selected songs from across his musical career, performing some titles he wrote for The Miracles, a band Robinson started when he was in high school and which performed together until 1972.
He also brought out a few numbers written for other Motown artists like The Temptations.
The audience sang along to “Get Ready,” “My Girl” and “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” which was The Temptations’ first charting single in 1964.
Robinson himself appeared to be having a good time on the stage and referred to the touring band members, which included keyboardist Demetrios Pappas, as his family.
The singer also drew from his influences as a youth in Detroit during the show, and Robinson recalled listening to 78 RPM records of gospel and blues music in his bedroom.
“Fly Me to the Moon,” a jazz hit first recorded by Kaye Ballard in 1954, was one track Robinson covered in homage to his long-reaching musical roots.
