Motown's Legendary Singer Smokey Robinson Confirms 1st Album in 10 Years

Smokey Robinson is officially coming back with new music.

Robinson hyped fans with the good news by sharing a black-and-white video of him on his Twitter page Thursday. The iconic singer revealed that his first solo album in nearly a decade, "Gasms," would be out on April 28.

He shared a first glimpse of the project by releasing his latest single, "If We Don't Have Each Other," three months before the album release.

"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," he said, per Rolling Stone. "It also has a current rhythm of today that I love, and I hope everyone else does too."

Robinson expressed his excitement to release it as it had been a while since he had new music. For what it's worth, the singer worked with other artists in the past years, keeping him away from making a solo album.

His 2014 "Smokey and Friends" featured Elton John, John Legend, Steven Tyler, and Mary J. Blige. He also worked with Mary Wells, Brenda Holloway, Marvin Gaye, and the Temptations.

He, however, released his holiday album "Christmas Everyday" in 2017. He then co-wrote "Make It Better" with Anderson Paak for the latter's album, "Ventura," two years later.

Smokey Robinson To Be Honored at MusiCares

Ahead of his album release, Robinson will receive another achievement alongside his fellow Motown musician, Berry Gordy.

They will be honored with "Persons of the Year" at the Recording Academy's MusiCares event. This year's event will be historic as it will be the first time the organization will honor two artists at the same time.

In 2022, Joni Mitchell clinched the same recognition. The award, which MusiCares presents every year, is given to those people who have shown a "combination of inspiring artistic accomplishments and philanthropy."

Robinson and Gordy will receive the honor on Feb. 3.

Robinson famously founded the Motown vocal group, The Miracles. He became its frontman from 1955 until he announced his retirement from the group in 1972.

Although he wanted to focus on his role as the group's vice president, he decided to start his solo career the following year.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Robinson was also awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize in 2016 for his contribution to the music industry.

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