The way he cooed 'Ooh Baby Baby' to the point that he began to shake with desire and then cooed some more while sexily pulling the microphone away from his mouth was - ooh, baby - about as sultry as a 58-year-old love song with nonexplicit lyrics can get.

While Robinson is a master at expressing emotionalism in a three-minute pop song, his virtuosity is in PG seduction. Robinson, often called the architect of Motown because he wrote so many hits, offered the songs he made famous with the Miracles ('You've Really Got a Hold on Me') and under his own name ('The Quiet Storm') as well as for others such as the Temptations (a medley including 'Get Ready' and 'My Girl'). It's a good thing he began before he arrived in the spotlight because he would have had the capacity crowd at just his peacock blue lamé suit. His 100-minute performance Saturday night at Grand Casino Hinckley Event Center was a terrific combination of style, substance, shtick, spontaneity, showmanship, superior songs and scintillating singing.Īfter an overture during which his various awards from the Songwriters Hall of Fame to Kennedy Center Honors were enumerated, Robinson started singing 1981's 'Being with You' offstage. But no one exemplifies the preeminent and enduring power of Motown better than Smokey Robinson. And so have many of the artists, as veterans Diana Ross and the Temptations (still featuring co-founder Otis Williams) demonstrated last year in separate triumphant performances at the Minnesota State Fair. But the Detroit record label also schooled its artists in the essentials for show biz: wardrobe, manners and stage performance.Ĭountless Motown hits from the 1960s and '70s have lived on.

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