Legendary singer and songwriter William “Smokey” Robinson contacted COVID after spending time on the road right before Christmas of 2020. His initial test results were negative, but a second test came out positive. After reportedly quarantining himself inside his guest house, he experienced difficulty breathing and was rushed to the hospital.
“I am a Covid survivor. I was hospitalized for 11 days. Four of five of those, I do not even remember,” he said. “It was really touch and go, and a terribly debilitating ailment.”
Adding, “Even when I got home, I was hoarse; I could not try to sing because I was afraid. It was one of the most frightening fights.”
According to Robinson, doctors credited the 81-year-olds active and healthy fitness lifestyle as a reason he was able to beat the virus.
“They told me that it was lucky for me, especially at my age, that I’d taken care of myself, but for the grace of God and that fact, I probably would not be here talking right now,” Robinson continued.
But this isn’t the only time that Robinson faced a near death experience.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’m doing fine, man, just leave me alone.” Those were the words from Robinson in 1986 when his friend, Leon, could visibly see that Smokey was abusing drugs.
It’s hard to believe that the founder and front man of the vocal group the Miracles, as well as songwriter and producer for Motown that brought us hits like “My Guy” for Mary Wells, and “The Way You Do The Things You Do” and “My Girl” for the Temptations was on the brink of dying because of drug abuse, but it’s true.
“No, I’m not leaving at all. I’m staying here and I’m praying for you. I don’t care how long it takes,” Leon persisted.
“Leon stayed and prayed for me all night; he prayed till the sun came up; he wouldn’t leave me; he stayed at my house all the next day and that night insisted that we go to a place called Ablaze Ministry,” Smokey said.
Ablaze was just a small building on Florence Avenue in Los Angeles where people were up and singing. The leader was a heavy-set black woman.
After preaching, the woman pointed at Smokey and said, “You, would you please come up here?”
Looking around tentatively, slowly, he made his way to the podium where she stood. She hugged him and said, “I know who you are. I didn’t call your name because not everyone recognized you. You look so bad. I been praying for you for a year now. The Lord put you on my heart. He really loves you. You’re one of His children. And He sent you here tonight so I could heal you in the name of Jesus.”
“The drugs,” she said, still in a whisper, “have eating away your stomach lining. If you hadn’t come here, you would have died.”
“And just like that, the desire left me. I haven’t touched or wanted any form of any drug. Being in show business, I’m always around the stuff. There have been endless opportunities to get high. Miraculously, I’ve not even been tempted. Miraculously, I was saved. The Lord washed me clean.”
Smokey’s Tips For Being Drug-Free
1. “Unless you get your spiritual self together – because we’re not just flesh and blood, we are spiritual beings. Unless you…
…get that part of yourself together you’re not going to beat this. Unless you recognize the fact that you’re a spiritual being, unless you recognize the fact that before you even heard of drugs, especially before you started doing them, you were living, you had a life, and you were going along with your program and you were doing what you do and all that.”
2. “I don’t care what your affliction is – food, sex, drugs, whatever it is – if you really want to get rid of it – see, you can’t go to God and give God something. You can’t go to God with nothing that he can’t take, that he will not accept, and he’s not going to say, ‘Oh, man, if you had just come last Thursday, I had an opening.’ (Laughter) You know what I mean?”
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