When we think of Smokey Robinson‘s indelible imprint on our collective musical consciousness, our first instinct may be to celebrate his incredible achievements as the frontman of the Miracles and as a writer and producer beyond compare, for that group and so many fellow Motown superstars.
But as he developed his solo career in the 1970s, he became one of the architects of a new sub-genre of smooth soul named after his 1975 hit “A Quiet Storm.” Then in 1979, that slow-jam style gave him his biggest hit in his own name of the entire decade: “Cruisin’” found its way to the Top 5 of Billboard’s U.S. R&B and pop charts, and to No. 1 on Cash Box.
Robinson’s 1975 album, also called A Quiet Storm, became the template for a new, sensual and sophisticated subdivision of soul and the entire radio genre named after it. He later described his vision for that LP’s concept of “seven songs carried on the back of a breeze, blowing through the record from start to finish.” The album gave him an R&B No.1 in “Baby That’s Backatcha” and set the mood not only for some of Smokey’s subsequent releases but for Quiet Storm staples by the likes of Teddy Pendergrass, Rose Royce, and the Isley Brothers.
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Robinson, also by this time a longtime industry figurehead as VP not only of Motown but also of the Performing Arts division of the Black Music Association, further augmented his catalog of solo R&B hits with such songs as “There Will Come A Day (I’m Gonna Happen To You)” and another Quiet Storm gem, “Daylight & Darkness.” But a major pop crossover in his own name had continued to elude him.
Then came the Where There’s Smoke… album, which was released on Motown in May 1979 and became the latest demonstration of Smokey’s mastery of infectious, distinctive soulfulness of every stripe. He acknowledged, for example, the prevailing disco sound, but was never subsumed by it, on such tracks as “It’s A Good Night” and “Share It,” and updated his own immortal classic for the Temptations, “Get Ready,” into a four-to-the-floor club favorite released as a 12-inch single.
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But that left plenty of room for what other artists of the day, notably Pendergrass and Barry White, had now customized as “bedroom soul.” In Robinson’s hands, that subtle but sumptuously romantic style was typified by “I Love The Nearness Of You,” co-written with his old friend Stevie Wonder, and the reflective, string-laden “The Hurt’s On You.” But the jewel in that album’s crown, and the single that would be all over pop and R&B playlists that summer, was the song that carried his Quiet Storm sound into the ’80s, “Cruisin’.”
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Robinson co-wrote the track with his close friend and former Miracles bandmate Marv Tarplin, with whom he had continued to work since Smokey’s departure from the group in 1972. Tarplin came up with the melody not long after that, but Robinson couldn’t conjure a suitable lyric until some five years later, when his car radio came to his aid.
“I was driving my car down Sunset Boulevard and I heard that song by the Rascals, ‘Groovin’ and I thought, ‘That’s it! Grooving,” he told The Guardian. “But then, no, it wasn’t intimate enough, it wasn’t sensual enough for the music, and that’s when I thought of ‘cruisin.’”
Part of the song’s success was a title phrase that was delightfully ambiguous. “You’d be surprised by how many people speculate on what cruisin’ means,” added Smokey. “Cruisin’ is a word that I leave up to the listener. When you’re with the person you’re with, and you feel you’re cruisin’, it’s whatever you want it to be.”
The combination of the song’s mesmerically hedonistic lyrics and the vocalist’s own sultry, cool-breeze production was utterly irresistible. “Heaven for fans who remember Smokey’s distinctively soft and supple R&B,” purred the Cash Box review. The song peaked at No.4 on both the pop and soul listings on Billboard, staying on the latter survey for an epic 28 weeks.
Better was to come on the Cash Box pop chart, on which “Cruisin’” finally rose to No.1 as late as mid-February 1980. It also reached the summit, and gold certification, in New Zealand. Smokey had reached a whole new cruising speed.
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