Smokey Robinson cruising back to the Strip

Smokey Robinson often asks his audiences to sing along. But he doesn’t need to. We’re already a step ahead.

Robinson’s fans know the words and are carried away by such early Miracles classics as “Tracks of My Tears,” “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” and “I Second That Emotion.” His solo work, including “Being With You” and “Cruisin’,” ranks in that class, too, as Robinson returns to the Strip at the Venetian Theatre on Friday and Saturday night.

The 83-year-old Motown legend can still pack a theater, playing The Venetian multiple times a year, and tours extensively.

The Las Vegas resident remains tight with Aussie Motown favorites Human Nature, whom he helped bring to the Strip and presented from their opening at Imperial Palace in 2009. HN is playing a monthly series at the South Point Showroom.

Robinson was also a prominent figure in the “Black in Vegas” ABC special, which aired in February in the network’s “Soul of a Nation” series. He headed a roster of newsmakers and headliners that included singers Clint Holmes, Usher and Ne-Yo, comics George Wallace and Luenell, and Las Vegas’ first black showgirl, Anna Bailey.

Highlights from a chat with the still-silky voiced Robinson.

Johnny Kats: The ABC special showed a number of current Las Vegas headliners, including you. How is the city doing today, in your view, regarding diversity on stage?

Smokey Robinson: Nowadays, it is great. We have great representation, many Black acts, playing Las Vegas right now.

How important is it for you to speak to the days when it wasn’t so great?

Really important. I still talk about the days of Sammy Davis Jr., and some of the war stories Sammy told me, because he was a bit older than me. He told me about when he first started playing in Las Vegas, with his dad and his uncle in the Will Mastin Trio. It was just horrible. Black people were treated like animals. Him and his uncle and his dad couldn’t even stay in the hotel. They essentially did three shows a night, and in between every show, they had to go back to the Black side of town. They couldn’t even stand in the lobby. It was going through the back door, from the kitchen.

The coverage really reminded of how Sammy’s friendship and alliance with Frank Sinatra changed that environment.

Right. Frank told the powers that be in Las Vegas that if they didn’t let the Black people start staying where they were playing, stop all this stuff that they were doing, that he would never play there again. That’s why Sammy loved Frank so much, because it was Frank who said, “I’m the man in Las Vegas. If you can’t have my Black friends staying where they were playing, then I will never play here again.” And that’s when it opened up.

And today, you are playing The Venetian, in this theater literally built for an opera production, “Phantom of the Opera.”

I love it. I think it’s the most beautiful room in Vegas, and you can see it was designed for a special experience. It reminds me a lot of Carnegie Hall. It is absolutely beautiful.

What’s your passion when you’re not performing?

Golf! My game is day to day, depending on how I am feeling individually. What do I shoot? Whatever golf lets me shoot. I’m looking at the pros, and you have a guy hit it 350 yards, then take a pitching wedge and hit it into the water. The pros hit a thousand balls a day and have coaches they hire to make them better, and they have the exact same problems I do. (Laughs.)

I caught your friends Human Nature at South Point recently, which brought back a lot of memories from the Imperial Palace days. You’re still featured in vintage video clips in the show.

Yeah, yeah. (Laughs.) I’ve seen the new show. You know, Phil (Burton) went back to Australia, but the other three guys are still kicking butt. My relationship with them is ongoing, as the person who brought them to Las Vegas. They are wonderful. I love those guys.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.