A couple days ago a buddy played me It Ain't Over 'til It's Over by Lenny Kravitz, who we were thinking of inviting to be part of the LNMC anniversary party. Lenny's song is really good but I mentioned that I thought he must have been listening to Curtis Mayfield and Smokey Robinson when he was growing up. (It is definitely not the Hendrix side of Lenny.)
Anyway, I had to play some Smokey who, when I was growing up was the creative genius behind the Motown hit machine, not just as lead singer of the Miracles but also as a songwriter and producer for the Temptations, Four Tops, Mary Wells, The Marvelettes and Marvin Gaye. And his songs have never stopped being covered, in every genre, like this awesome ska version of Tears of a Clown by The Beat. Of course, here's the all-time classic:
