Smokey comes to town

It seems to be Motown time yet again, with Smokey Robinson appearing on the BBC's Electric Proms concert last night and the Divas of Motown tour hitting London in a couple of weeks time. Smokey looks ridiculously young given that it's a good 50 years since his beautiful light voice was first heard on record. But his voice soounds as sweet as ever and his poetic lyrics still sound fresh and original. I've been a fan since the Miracles' Shop Around was released here on the London label in 1960 and follow ups such as You Really Got a Hold On Me and What's So Good About Goodbye were equally good, as were many others over the years.

Stupidly I omitted his name from my list of 60s soul greats in my earlier blog and I can only apologise for this oversight. How could I miss one of the greatest voices - and certainly one of the very greatest songwriters - of sixties soul. but as Dave Carroll rightly pointed out in his comment I also omitted two other Motown greats - Levi Stubbs and David Ruffin. What was I thinking of? As for the Divas of Motown, I'm looking forward to seeing Thelma Houston, Brenda Holloway, Mable John, Chris Clark and Sherrie Payne & Lynda Laurence of The Supremes at the Hammersmith Apollo in a couple of weeks time. What fantastic pleasure Tamla Motown has brought us over the last 50 years.