Smokey Robinson.Photo: Andrew Toth/Getty
Smokey Robinsonmay be a seasoned veteran of the music industry, but that doesn’t mean he has any plans to slow down.
The Motown legend, 82, is set torelease a new studio albumin April, and tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue that making music is still his biggest passion.
“It’s what I love,” he says. “I can’t find anything that replaces this for me.”
“I retired one time. I retired for about three years, and I was climbing the walls,” he says. “It’s not about me making time. It’s about me raring to go and do it. Everybody gets a gift from God, and mine was to be able to write music.”
For more on Smokey Robinson, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.
Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy in 1981.Joan Adlen/Getty
That musicianship has served Robinson well, and on Feb. 3, he and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy will be honored together as the 2023MusiCares Persons of the Year, the first time the prize has gone to two individuals.
The pair’s working relationship stretches back nearly 65 years, when Robinson and the Miracles became one of the first artists signed to Gordy’s label. Their serendipitous meeting came about after Robinson auditioned unsuccessfully for Jackie Wilson’s manager. Though that was a bust, he caught Gordy’s attention, and soon the future executive filled Robinson in on his plans for the future.
“He said, ‘I’m going to start my own record company. We are not just going to make Black music. We’re going to make music for everybody,’ " Robinson recalls of their meeting. “Berry and I talk about it all the time—we never dared to dream that Motown would become what it has.”
source: people.com
