Smokey bringing Motown to Tacoma

Smokey Robinson has written more than 1,000 songs, recorded 36 Top-40 hits, and is revered as one of the most soulful singers and gifted songwriters of his era. Bob Dylan called him "America's greatest living poet," and the late George Harrison loved him so much that he wrote a song for him, simply titled "Pure Smokey."

But as Robinson hits the road this summer, the veteran tunesmith isn't just taking along his own songs. He's got a brand new album, "Timeless Love," which features his distinctive reworkings of pop, jazz and big-band classics, some dating as far back as the 1920s.

"This is the music that was being played in our house when I was growing up," Robinson said recently from his home in Los Angeles. "I had two older sisters and my mom, and that was the music they played.

"Frank Sinatra was always played at our house. Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters. They played everything — jazz, the blues, gospel, classical. I grew up with a great dose of music, and these are the first people I heard."

And so, "Timeless Love" features such masterworks as "I'm in the Mood For Love," "Night and Day," "You Go to My Head" and " Love Is Here to Stay," among others.

Robinson originally thought of recording the album live in concert, as he's been doing many of the songs on stage for years, but opted for a live-in-the-studio approach instead.

"Nowadays sometimes people sing and play on the same recording and don't even see each other," Robinson said. "But I was singing in the studio, and the musicians were right next to me. We had a ball, man."

At 66, Robinson sounds virtually the same as he did 20 or 30 years ago: a smooth crooner beyond compare. How has he kept that inimitable voice in shape?

"I've found that what happens for me personally is I take care of myself," Robinson said. "I don't drink, I don't smoke. And it surprises me many times that I'm in show business, because I'm not a night person. At 10:30 I'm asleep. But I do work out, and I run or I walk, and I just try and take care of myself. My voice is my instrument, and I know how to play my instrument after all these years. I take care of it."

That instrument has been a gift for Robinson since he began singing in his native Detroit more than 50 years ago. He formed his own group in high school called The Matadors, but thought his career was over before it began when the group flunked its audition for Jackie Wilson's manager in 1957.

"Jackie Wilson was my No. 1 singing idol when I was a kid growing up," Robinson recalled. "And when I'd buy a record, I always looked to see who wrote the songs because I was always a songwriter buff. We sang about five songs I had written at the audition. Their comments were that we would never make it."

But as a dejected Robinson walked outside after the failed audition, he heard a voice from behind asking, "Where'd you get those songs from?"

"I was curious why this young guy was asking," Robinson said. "Even though I was dejected, I was trying to be polite. I said, 'I wrote them.' He said, 'You wrote all those songs? I like a couple of those songs.' I said 'Thank you very much.' He said, 'I'm Berry Gordy.' My mouth dropped. I said, 'Berry Gordy who writes the songs for Jackie Wilson?' I was totally shocked. He said 'Yeah, that's me.' "

And so began a relationship that forever changed the course of music history. The Matadors became The Miracles, and Gordy formed a fledgling label called Motown Records with Robinson as one of his chief songwriters and arrangers.

And in 1960, The Miracles recorded "Shop Around," which became Motown's first million-selling single, opening the doors for countless Motown acts to follow. It was also the first of an amazing string of hits for Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, ranging from "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," and "The Tears of a Clown," to "Ooo Baby Baby," and "The Tracks of My Tears."

Robinson still plays "about 65 or 70" dates per year, and even though he's recording classics, he has by no means stopped writing. In fact, while he was recording "Timeless Love," he was simultaneously working on a new album of original material, which he expects will be completed soon.

He's also still listening to lots of new music and doesn't buy any theories about there being a lack of bright new talent on the current scene. He had special praise for Kanye West, John Legend ("He's gonna be around for a long time") and Nelly ("I have a bunch of Nelly's music. He's a little risqué with the lyrics, but he's got the greatest beats in the world.")

And the man known as "Mr. Motown" also has no problem with rap or those who borrow snippets of his own music in the form of sampling.

"Do I get irritated? No." Robinson said. "They can sample all they want of mine, because that says that particular song had an influence on them and they loved it enough to include it in one of their songs. Also, I'm gonna make some money," he added with a laugh.

Like the title of his new album, Robinson said his goal is to have his music be timeless.

"When I sit down to write a song, I'm trying to write a song, not a hit record," Robinson said. "If that comes with it, fine, that's a bonus. But I'm trying to write a song that if I'd written it 50 years before it was going to mean something, or if I wrote it today it's going to mean something, or 50 years from now it's going to mean something, because it has lyrical and musical content that's going to mean something to people."