with a core black, urban listenership adopted a similar format for its graveyard slot. The format was an immediate success, becoming so popular that within a few years, virtually every station in the U.S. "The Quiet Storm" was four hours of melodically soulful music that provided an intimate, laid-back mood tailor-made for late-night listening, and that was the key to its tremendous appeal among adult audiences. For many, when Robinson's trademark tenor voice wafted out over the airwaves, it signalled a welcome end to the stresses of the workday.
![smokey robinson a quiet storm black and white smokey robinson a quiet storm black and white](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0002/505/MI0002505613.jpg)
Founder of Radio One Cathy Hughes, then WHUR station manager, heard of the show's positive reception and responded by giving Lindsey his own show.Īfter a time, the strains of "A Quiet Storm," Robinson's popular recording, became Lindsey's theme music and introduced his time slot every night thereafter. The response from listeners was positive, and Lindsey stayed on. Melvin Lindsey first deejayed for WHUR in 1976 as a stand-in for an employee who failed to report for work because of violent storm that caused power outages and knocked some area radio stations off the air. Today, quiet storm is a broad term given to an array of mellow, slow-groove contemporary R&B, soul and smooth jazz offerings of the type featured on Melvin Lindsey's WHUR program, and on myriad other stations that followed his lead - most notably KBLX-FM in San Francisco, which in 1979 became the first radio station in the U.S. At its best, the style features an urban sophistication and subdued soulfulness. Quiet storm music is similar to soft rock and adult contemporary styles, but it is more closely and unmistakably rooted in R&B and soul music, often with jazz extensions. It can be soothingly pensive, or express romantic sentiment. Encompassing a mix of African American music genres, quiet storm music is distinguished by understated, mellow dynamics and relaxed tempos and rhythms. Smokey Robinson's like-titled hit single, released in 1975 as the title track to his third solo album, lent its name to the format and to the radio program that introduced it to the public. This is not a countdown, leading to a “winner.” It’s just a way to showcase some of the finest music ever made.Quiet storm is a late-night radio format, featuring soulful slow jams, pioneered in the mid-1970s by then-station-intern Melvin Lindsey at WHUR-FM, in Washington, D.C. Each album is featured with its background story, keyed to a relevant date in its history. What are the 20 most essential Motown albums? It’s a difficult choice, but this is ours, picked and presented through the course of this 60th anniversary year. The format combined mellow R&B and light jazz, and was adopted by other radio stations across the U.S. What else: The title and mood of the album inspired the birth of a radio format, which made its late-night debut at WHUR-FM in Washington, D.C. The storm, that wind, that thunder, was blowing through everything – through the entire album, through my entire life.” (For more on Smokey Robinson, read here.)
![smokey robinson a quiet storm black and white smokey robinson a quiet storm black and white](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/45/67/bf/4567bf563e383b7fcf6f0cb0caedf791--smokey-robinson-quiet-storm.jpg)
Then I extended the concept until it linked the album. Why: “People considered me to be a quiet singer,” said Smokey, “so I said to myself, ‘I’d like to go back and take the business by storm.’ One of my sisters helped me finish it up. Where: Smokey Robinson recorded A Quiet Storm in Los Angeles during 1974, with musicians including guitarist Marv Tarplin, whose intro on the Miracles’ “The Tracks Of My Tears” is among the most recognised riffs in 20th century music. Another track, “Wedding Song,” was composed for the marriage ceremony on December 15, 1973, of Jermaine Jackson and Berry Gordy’s youngest daughter, Hazel Joy.
![smokey robinson a quiet storm black and white smokey robinson a quiet storm black and white](https://cdn3.virtualsheetmusic.com/images/first_pages/HL-v/HL-401381First_BIG.png)
It was the album’s third single, with a song written by Robinson and his sister, Rose Ella Jones. When: The title track of A Quiet Storm made its chart debut on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 17, 1976, four years after Smokey had left the Miracles. A Quiet Storm became Robinson’s first major LP success of the 1970s, and also included the No. What: The third solo album by the leader of the first group – the Miracles – managed by Motown founder Berry Gordy before he started his own record company in 1959.