Vegas now Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood

Smokey Robinson is among the more under-the-radar Las Vegas celebrities. To realize that you share a hometown with the Motown recording legend probably means that you saw him at the grocery store, not in a gossip column or those Internet lists of famous Sin City residents.

"People might run into me anywhere," says Robinson, 70. "I'm out and about. I don't hide."

Robinson, who performs at the Eastside Cannery on Friday, established the valley as his primary residence in 2006. (He also lives in Los Angeles -- and on the road -- for five or six months each year.)

"I moved here for tax purposes originally," the singer admits. "But I love it here."

Robinson says his favorite activities are golfing, dining out and relaxing at home.

"Once you get out into the residential sections, Vegas is a great place to live -- peaceful and quiet," he says.

Robinson may lack recognition as a Las Vegas local, but not as one of the most significant artists in pop music history. The satin voice behind such megahits as "Shop Around," "Ooo Baby Baby" and "Tears of a Clown," Robinson has accumulated 37 Top 40 hits and two Grammy Awards. The Beatles confessed their sound's Smokey debt in countless interviews and famously covered Robinson's "You've Really Got a Hold on Me." (After the band's breakup, George Harrison wrote a song called "Pure Smokey" about his childhood singing idol.)

"The thing I loved about the Beatles so much was the fact that they were the first really, really mega white act to admit that they grew up listening to black music," says Robinson, who officially toasted Paul McCartney during the pre-induction dinner for this year's Kennedy Center Honors.

Robinson -- born William and christened "Smokey Joe" as a tyke by an uncle -- began his career in a high school vocal group on Detroit's north end in 1955. The Five Chimes became the Matadors, and then the Miracles, by the time they signed to Berry Gordy's Tamla (later Motown) Records in 1959.

Fifty years later, Robinson still writes and records new music. His latest CD, 2009's "Time Flies When You're Having Fun," features contributions from Carlos Santana, Joss Stone and India.Arie.

"I'm living my wildest impossible childhood dream," Robinson says. "From when I was 4 years old, this is what I wanted to do with my life, but it seemed like it was going to be impossible from where I grew up in the hood in Detroit."

At the Eastside Cannery, Robinson will be backed by a six-piece band, three singers and two dancers. But he will perform all lead vocal duties for the show's nearly three-hour duration.

"My health is perfect," Robinson says. "I feel better than I've ever felt in my life."

Robinson says he plans on becoming "the George Burns of this end of show business."

"I tried retirement when I retired from the Miracles," he explains. "I became vice president of Motown and I figured I would do that for the rest of my life -- just go to my office and be involved in that.

"After three years of that, I was climbing the walls to do this again."

Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0456.