Staying Fit
For more than 60 years, singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson has been creating instant classics for himself and others. His 2014 album of duets, Smokey & Friends (Verve Records), features the music legend singing many of his greatest hits with some of the industry's biggest stars.
Icons such as Elton John and Sheryl Crow, as well as younger performers such as John Legend and Mary J. Blige, all picked their favorite Smokey Robinson song to perform on the album. The result: a timeless collection of updated standards.
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We talked with Robinson about Smokey & Friends — and what it's like to hear other artists perform his songs.
Q: Do you ever hear a young singer perform one of your songs, and it becomes a revelation to you?
A: How about Michael Jackson singing "Who's Lovin' You?" I might have written "Who's Lovin' You?" before he was born [1958], but he came along and sang that song when he was 11 years old. How could he possibly sing a song like that, with the meaning of that song, and pull it off to the point where when I sing it in a concert, young people come up to me and ask, "Why'd you sing Michael Jackson's song?" So the answer to your question is yes. Sometimes young people come along and give a song a new twist, and give it a new life. Thank God.
Q: Are you ever unhappy with another singer's interpretation?
A: When I hear someone singing one of my songs, I never critique them. I never, ever do that, man. There are millions and millions and millions of songs, so they've got a vast choice there. For them to pick up one of my songs and say, "I love this song enough to record this," is a flattering joy to me as a songwriter. That's why I write. I want to write a song that's gonna live on and on and on.
Q: How were the duets recorded for Smokey & Friends?
A: They were done separately [over distance via electronic links between recording studios], but everybody on there is a professional. When you're a professional, you know how to do it so the communication is there, whether you're together or not. If I hadn't told you that, you would never know that we weren't in the studio together.
Q: It's a time-honored practice. Frank Sinatra did his duet albums that way.
A: Yeah. And some of his were recorded on the telephone! For our album, we contacted each of these artists and asked them: "What's your favorite Smokey Robinson song?" It didn't have to be one I recorded — just any song I'd ever written. And that's how we did it.
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