Smokey is smokin'

London witnessed a miracle last night. Or to be precise, the lead singer of the Miracles.

Smokey Robinson, one of Motown's greatest talents, made a rare appearance in the capital at a concert to celebrate 50 years in the record industry.

Aged 66 and with a songbook that is estimated to stretch beyond 1,000 tunes, Robinson thankfully only played a fraction of his back catalogue.

But it was more than enough to have his audience - including 84-year-old Jane Russell, the one-time Hollywood sex bomb, and Jerry Hall, the one-time catwalk sex bomb - rocking at the Grosvenor House Hotel.

Robinson last performed in London than two decades ago in 1984, making last night's concert one of the hottest tickets in town.

Judging by the ecstatic reception for the man who gave us such hits as The Tracks Of My Tears and I Second That Emotion with his band The Miracles, he should never have left it so long. Although maybe it was the cocaine addiction through the mid-1980s that got in the way.

Over the past 50 years, Robinson has recorded a staggering 70 top 40 hits. Born and raised in Detroit, he was a vice president of Motown records, writing hit records for not just the Miracles but for other groups too. His output through the mid-Sixties was prodigious.

He was warmly welcomed on stage by Russell - making a combined age of 150 - who said she had come to London by sea just to see the soul singer perform.

Others at the event included Eighties singers Chrissie Hynde and Bonnie Tyler, who flew in from Germany especially. The event was staged by David Gest, better known as the perma-tanned man who married Liza Minnelli only to accuse her of beating him up. Doubtless, he shed The Tears Of A Clown as the punches rained down (allegedly).