MOTOWN - ROBINSON'S JOY AT UNITING RACES

ROBINSON'S JOY AT UNITING RACES

MOTOWN legend SMOKEY ROBINSON is proud of his legacy - because his music helped crush racial tension in 1960s America.
The Tears of a Clown singer was horrified at the segregation between white and black members of the audience when he first began performing live.
But he was delighted when he returned to the same venues after his career took off - and realised his music had the power to unite people.
He says, "We had been going to do concerts. The white people would be upstairs, black downstairs - or vice versa - and they wouldn't even look at each other. And then we started to go back a couple of years later and they all loved the music so they were not only in the same area but they were dancing together, talking, holding hands. It was just an amazing turn of events."