Legendary singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson teamed up with NPR for a special performance for its Tiny Desk Concert series.
Accompanied by a full band and background singers, Robinson opened his performance with “Being With You.”
The song, named after his 1981 album, was his first single to be certified by the RIAA. It also reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was later turned into a duet in 2014 with Mary J. Blige.
Robinson revisited his catalog from his celebrated career as part of The Miracles and performed “The Tears of a Clown,” a classic that topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks starting in December 1970.
“I chose this song as the first single of my new album because it’s different musically and has a slide dance feeling to it… which is different from what I’ve ever done before, Robinson previously stated about the former mentioned track.
He added, “It also has a current rhythm of today that I love, and I hope everyone else does too.”
Following a cut from his 1975 album, A Quiet Storm, Robinson concluded his performance with “Cruisin’,” lifted from his 1979 album, Where There’s Smoke…
“Cruisin’” reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 chart and earned a nod for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male at the 22nd Grammy Awards in 1980. (D’Angelo later covered the song on his 1995 debut album, Brown Sugar.)
As mentioned above, Robinson released his first album of new music in 12 years, Gasms, in April. The independently released album consisted of nine tracks, including “How You Make Me Feel.”
In February, Robinson was honored at the 2023 MusiCares Person of the Year gala alongside Motown founder Berry Gordy.
Watch Smokey Robinson’s Tiny Desk Concert below.