Preloading

The First Song Smokey Robinson Ever Wrote

Season 5 Episode 502
Aired on 11/01/2015 | CC tv-14
Legendary singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson doesn't remember a time when music wasn't a part of his life. Throughout his prolific career, Smokey has had dozens of top 40 hits and more than 4,000 songs to his credit.

It all began, he says, when he was just 5 years old. "The first song that I ever wrote, in fact, it was in a school play in the first grade," he says. "My auditorium teacher let me write a song—some lyrics—to a melody that she was playing on the piano for the beginning and the ending of the play."

From that moment on, Smokey says his mother always supported his musical ambitions. "You would've thought that I was like Cole Porter or one of the Gershwin brothers or something like that according to her reaction," he says. "She'd call people she didn't even know and tell them, 'My baby wrote this song!'"

Watch as Smokey shares more about his early aspirations to sing—and why he never thought it would be possible.

More from this episode