Above: At age 75, Smokey Robinson still enjoys touring and performing for his fans. (contributed)

At age 75, there’s very little that Smokey Robinson has not accomplished in the music business.

As lead singer of the Miracles and then in a successful solo career, the Detroit-born performer has brought us iconic songs like “My Girl,” “Tears of a Clown,” “Shop Around,” “I Second That Emotion,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” “Cruisin’” and many others, earning Grammys, the Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Honor, BET’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a spot in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He also spent two decades as Berry Gordy’s vice president at Motown.

Earlier this month, Robinson was honored as part of the American Music Masters by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, of which he and the Miracles are also members. A concert featured Motown legends Dennis Edwards, Mary Wilson and Martha Reeves, along with current artists, all singing Robinson’s songs.

Smokey Robinson will perform at the Alabama Theatre Saturday, November 21. (contributed)

On Saturday, Nov. 21, Robinson will sing those songs himself, performing at Birmingham’s Alabama Theatre as part of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Celebration. The night honors attorney and civil rights trailblazer Vernon Jordan.  Tickets for the 7 p.m. event are available through Ticketmaster.

In advance of his Birmingham appearance, Robinson took a few minutes to talk about his career, the Miracles, Motown and just how far civil rights have come since the 1960s.

NewsCenter: Even for you, the American Music Masters event in Cleveland must have been a high honor. Did you enjoy it?

Robinson: That night was a very special event. It was a flattering, very special occasion. I’m not doing this to get awards. When I get an award it’s ironic because I’m doing something I absolutely love and getting an award for it. It’s amazing to me. That night, a lot of people were there singing my songs. Motown alumni showed up. Berry Gordy came to introduce me. It was just fantastic.

NewsCenter: You’ve talked in the past about how difficult it was to perform in the South in the ‘60s, and now you’re front and center at a human rights gala in Birmingham, Alabama. Can you talk about that journey?

Robinson: Just look at it. We’ve made so much progress, man. We’ve still got a ways to go, but we’ve made a lot of progress. To a lot of people it doesn’t seem apparent and obvious, but those are people who did not live back in the day when it was different, really different. Back in the day there’s no way in the world we would have had a black man as president of the United States. It’s a wonderful thing to see the progress that has been made and to live through this progress. We’re always probably going to have work to do, but most of the younger generation today, they’re pretty much colorblind.

NewsCenter: Unlike some other stories of superstars from the 1960s and 1970s, your story is not fraught with major rifts and ongoing feuds. There seem to be no real hard feelings with anyone, including the Miracles and the folks you worked with as vice president at Motown. Is that true?

Robinson: I don’t carry negativity. If you do me wrong, I may not forget it, but I’m not going to hold on to it, either. When I decided to leave the Miracles, they hired a new singer, Billy Griffin, and he toured with us for a year, watching the show, learning the ins and outs. (The Miracles did end up leaving Motown, which Robinson advised against, but that wasn’t a rift, he says, just a bad decision.) Never any rifts with them. We grew up together. I knew them since I was 10 years old. … As for Motown, we’ve always talked about the Motown family and people thought that was mythical. But there is and always has been a Motown family. Berry has a saying – We cannot not love each other.

NewsCenter: You’re still singing all the hits in concert. Ever get tired of them?

Robinson: I am so, so, very, very, very blessed. I get a chance to live my life and earn my living doing what I absolutely love. You can’t beat that. I love all aspects of the business, but the favorite part of my work is performing. I don’t get that charge anywhere else than when I’m with an audience and all the fans. … I never know how I’m going to sing those songs from night to night, so every night, they’re brand new to me, and that’s a great thing.

NewsCenter: How do you maintain that iconic tenor voice?

Robinson: I tell young singers this all the time. You’ve got to take care of yourself. Honey, lemon juice, those sorts of things, they’re just Band-Aids. You’ve got to take care of yourself. I eat right, exercise, work out. I don’t smoke or drink. Some people will drink in moderation and they’re fine, but I don’t do either. I just try to take care of myself.

NewsCenter: Anything that you still want to accomplish that you haven’t?

Robinson: I would love to have a great role in a great movie. … We’ve been approached many times, but the right part hasn’t come along.