Robin Thicke
Robin Alan Thicke is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 single "Blurred Lines", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, it received nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Thicke is a son of actress Gloria Loring and actor Alan Thicke. Prior to pursuing his recording career, he was discovered by R&B singer Brian McKnight, for whom he produced and co-wrote several songs. He was led to do so for other R&B acts such as Brandy Norwood, Color Me Badd, Brownstone, 3T, Chanté Moore, and Kevon Edmonds; his work led him to sign with Interscope Records at the age of 16. The label released his blue-eyed soul-inspired debut studio album, A Beautiful World, which was commercially unsuccessful. He then signed with Pharrell Williams' Star Trak Entertainment in 2005 to release his second album, The Evolution of Robin Thicke. As his commercial breakthrough, the album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and spawned the single, "Lost Without U", which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.
His third album, Something Else, peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, and was preceded by the moderate hit song "Magic". His fourth, Sex Therapy: The Session, peaked at number nine and spawned the single "Sex Therapy", while his fifth, Love After War, peaked at number 22. His sixth album, Blurred Lines was preceded by the single of the same name, and debuted atop both the Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart despite mixed critical reception. Since 2019, Thicke has been a panelist on the Fox musical competition show The Masked Singer.
Life and career
1977–1998: Early years and family
Thicke was born in Los Angeles, California, on March 10, 1977. His parents are American actress-singer Gloria Loring, who appeared on the NBC daytime drama Days of Our Lives, and Canadian actor Alan Thicke, known for his role on the TV sitcom Growing Pains; the duo also composed theme music such as Diff'rent Strokes and its spin-off The Facts of Life. They divorced when Thicke was 7 years old. He has an older brother, Brennan, who worked as a voice actor and voiced the titular character on the animated Dennis the Menace series, and a younger half-brother, Carter. Robin Thicke also appeared in small roles on TV shows: The Wonder Years, The New Lassie, Just the Ten of Us and several episodes of Growing Pains.Thicke's parents were supportive of his musical inclinations; his father helped him to write and structure his first songs. According to Robin Thicke, his father would not pay for him and his vocal group, As One, to record a professionally produced demo tape, wanting Robin to focus on his studies and graduate from school before committing to the pursuit of a career in music. The demo ultimately was paid for by jazz vocalist Al Jarreau, an uncle of one of the group members. His demo made its way to R&B singer Brian McKnight, who was impressed enough by Thicke to invite him into the studio to work with him. Thicke was signed to McKnight's production company; "Anyway", a song co-written with Thicke, was featured on McKnight's second album I Remember You. Thicke's peers jokingly nicknamed him "Brian McWhite". It was Thicke's association with McKnight, who Thicke counts as one of his first mentors, that led him to his acquaintance with Jimmy Iovine and helped him to land his first recording contract with Interscope Records at the age of 16. Thicke later joined a hip hop duo with future Beverly Hills 90210 actor Brian Austin Green.
Thicke moved out on his own at the age of 17, during his senior year of high school, earning a living and supporting himself as a professional record producer and songwriter. Thicke has noted that while his parents did not attempt to dissuade him from his desire to be in the music industry, their own experience with the nature of the entertainment business made them leery in the beginning. As Thicke's list of credits grew so did his parents' confidence in his decision.
While initially signed as a singer and artist in his own right, Thicke first made a name for himself within the industry as a songwriter and producer for other artists before releasing and performing his own music. Among his work for other artists, Thicke co-wrote "Love Is on My Side" on Brandy's eponymous debut album; he also wrote for 3T's Brotherhood, and collaborated with Jordan Knight, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on several songs in Knight's 1999 album Jordan Knight including the Billboard top 10 hit "Give It to You". According to Thicke, Knight also invested in the ability of the young songwriter early on by purchasing studio equipment for him.
He also co-wrote the song "When You Put Your Hands on Me" for Christina Aguilera's debut album and co-wrote and produced three songs for Mýa's sophomore release, Fear of Flying. In 1999, Thicke co-wrote the song "Fall Again" with Walter Afanasieff, which was intended to be a track on Michael Jackson's 2001 album Invincible, but it failed to be presented as a completed song. The demo Michael recorded in 1999 was released on November 16, 2004, as an album track of his limited edition box set The Ultimate Collection. As an artist, he recorded and performed solely under his surname, Thicke. He would continue to do so until 2005.
1999–2003: ''A Beautiful World'' and early success
At the age of 22, after an involvement with Tommy Mottola and Epic Records following the end of his first deal with Interscope, Thicke resolved himself to work chiefly on material for his debut album, initially titled Cherry Blue Skies, planning to use his own money to fund the project. As Thicke told Billboard, "I decided I was going to save money to make my album, and I hoped to offer it to labels–take it or leave it–so I didn't have to negotiate how to make my music." While piecing his album together, Thicke began working with veteran producer and label executive Andre Harrell and, under his guidance, eventually signed with Interscope for a second time as part of Harrell's and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds' Nu America imprint label in 2001.In 2002, Thicke released his debut single "When I Get You Alone". The track samples Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven", which itself is a disco rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The music video for the song received some rotation on MTV2 and BET's Rated Next and was spun moderately on pop and urban radio, peaking at number 49 on Radio & Records Pop chart. Globally, however, "When I Get You Alone" became a chart success when it peaked in the Top 20 in Australia, Belgium, and Italy, and reached the Top 10 of the singles charts in New Zealand and the Top 3 of the Dutch Top 40 in the Netherlands.
The moderate success was enough to signal the release of the album in 2003 with its name changed to A Beautiful World. Despite the release of a second single, "Brand New Jones", the album received very little promotion and debuted at number 152 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling 119,000 copies as of January 2012. A Beautiful World fell below the label's commercial expectations. The album's under-performance troubled Thicke personally, but it proved enough to make him a wanted collaborator. Thicke has cited Mary J. Blige, Usher, and Lil Wayne, among others, as those who subsequently reached out to him. Reflecting on A Beautiful World in 2013, Usher told The New York Times, "I was blown away — I thought Beatles, Earth Wind & Fire, Shuggie Otis, Marvin Gaye — all in one album. got a soul you can't buy, man."
Runner-up Blake Lewis performed "When I Get You Alone" during the 2007 season of American Idol when the Top 3 chose a song to sing. Lewis has often put Robin Thicke in his list of musical influences in interviews and on the American Idol website. The song was also performed by Blaine Anderson on Glee during the Season 2 episode "Silly Love Songs".
2004–2007: ''The Evolution of Robin Thicke'' and commercial breakthrough
Following A Beautiful World, Thicke was keen to begin work on his sophomore album but financial and creative disagreements stemming from the performance of his first album led to a several month-long stalemate between Robin and his record label.Regarding this time in his career, Thicke said, "The label pretty much lost faith in my ability to sell. It became a question of, 'Where does he fit? Is he not rock or pop enough? Is he not soul enough?'" Pharrell Williams, having established a distribution deal with Interscope for his record label, Star Trak, expressed to Jimmy Iovine his interest in Thicke, whose talent he thought of highly.
Signed to Star Trak in 2005, Thicke continued work on his second album, The Evolution of Robin Thicke. The first single, "Wanna Love U Girl", featured producer Williams and charted successfully on urban radio in the United Kingdom. In 2006, a remix version of the song was filmed with rapper Busta Rhymes. Nearly a year after the single was released, the album was released on October 3, 2006. To promote it, Thicke toured with India.Arie, then opened for John Legend in late 2006.
The video for his second single, the ballad "Lost Without U", was released in fall 2006. The song began appearing on Billboard R&B charts in November of that year. With the assistance of radio airplay, it became Thicke's breakout hit. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, making him the first white male artist to top that chart since George Michael did so in 1988 with "One More Try".
In the February 24, 2007, issue of Billboard, Thicke concurrently topped four Billboard charts: Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, and Adult R&B Songs, a feat he would duplicate in the March 17 issue. Following its re-release as a Deluxe Edition on February 13, 2007, the album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200. On March 23, 2007, The Evolution of Robin Thicke was certified Platinum by the RIAA. With album sales of over 1.5 million copies sold domestically, The Evolution of Robin Thicke became a commercial success in the United States.
Thicke and his record label Interscope soon considered potential tracks to be released as the album's next and third single. Thicke's preference was the track "Can U Believe", which peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. On October 2, 2007, the track "Got 2 Be Down" was released as the album's fourth official single. The single peaked at number 60 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.
On April 19, 2007, Thicke performed on The Oprah Winfrey Show, singing "Lost Without U". He returned to the show a month later, on May 29, performing "Complicated" and Oprah Winfrey's favorite song from the album, "Would That Make U Love Me", while also promoting Beyoncé's tour, on which he would be an opening act. Winfrey revealed that Thicke's initial appearance garnered a strong reaction, noting that people called the show to say that they didn't know he would be on. Winfrey explained, "So what I wanted to do was to accommodate all of the people who missed it the first time... In order to do that, I had to do something I've never done before. I got on the phone and asked this very special guest if he would consider coming back."
In late 2007, Thicke finished promotion for the album as the featured opening act for the North American leg of Beyoncé's US tour, The Beyoncé Experience. Other notable performances in support of the album and its single "Lost Without U" include the 2007 BET Awards, The 2007 MOBO Awards,
American Idol, and the 2007 Soul Train Music Awards. He also performed a one-off UK concert at KOKO in London on September 24, 2007.