Smokey Robinson was born on May 10, 1940, in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a minister and his mother was a singer. At the age of seven, he began singing with his mother in church, and by the time he was nine, he decided to pursue a career as a singer. He formed The Miracles in 1957 with Marvin Gaye and schoolmate Pete Moore
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After the group's first single "Shop Around" hit the Top 40 pop charts in 1961, Smokey began recording solo material. His first single, "My Girl," became a Top 10 hit on the R&B charts in 1962. In 1963 he released his first album entitled "Going To A Go-Go." By 1965 he had sold over 100 million records worldwide.
That year he won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "It's Growing."
Smokey Robinson is known for being one of the earliest to have made it big as a black recording artist during an era when many blacks were being excluded from popular music by white record labels because of their skin color. The Miracles were one of the first successful black groups to have major success with both their music and image. Their upbeat catchy tunes are still popular today with R&B fans throughout the world.