Smokey Robinson's 3 Children: All About Berry, Tamla and Trey

Mar. 15, 2025

Smokey Robinson with his kids, Tamla and Berry Robinson.Photo:Tamla Robinson Instagram

Tamla Robinson Instagram

Smokey Robinsontakes pride and joy in his three children.

The four-timeGrammy-winning artist and songwriterwelcomed son Berry and daughter Tamla with his ex-wife and “First Lady of Motown,”Claudette Rogers, and a son named Trey from a woman Robinson refers to as “Kandi” with whom he had an affair.

News of Robinson fathering a child out of wedlock led to the end of his 27-year marriage with Rogers.

“I just hate that thekids and others might have sufferedfrom the moves that I made,” he previously told PEOPLE surrounding the release of his memoir,Smokey: Inside My Life.

Despite his past, the “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” musician is close with all three of his children and sees them regularly. “I have good relationships with all the people in my life,” he said.

So who are Smokey Robinson’s three children? Here’s everything to know about Berry, Tamla and Trey.

Berry Robinson

Smokey Robinson and his son Berry Robinson.Tamla Robinson Instagram

Robinson and Rogers welcomed their first child, Berry William Borope Robinson, in 1968. Robinson shared that his then-wife experienced seven miscarriages before they welcomed their son via a surrogate.

“Basically that’s why she had to leave the group. We were trying to have kids,” he toldThe Independentof Rogers’ departure from The Miracles.

The couple named their firstborn after Robinson’s best friend and founder of Motown Records,Berry Gordy, who was also chosen as Berry’s godfather.

Smokey Robinson, Claudette Rogers Robinson, and Berry Robinson.Tamla Robinson Instagram

Robinson’s eldest child leads a quiet life out of the spotlight but remains close with his family. While he doesn’t appear to have public social media profiles, he’s been spotted on his sister’s Instagram over the years, including visiting with her and their father.

Tamla Robinson

Tamla Robinson and Smokey Robinson.Tamla Robinson Instagram

Robinson and Rogers welcomed their second child and first daughter, Tamla Claudette Robinson, in 1971. The “Quiet Storm” singer revealed that the doctor who helped them find the surrogate to carry their son built a cervical brace for Rogers to help her carry a new pregnancy to term.

“When it was time, they removed it and my daughter, Tamla, was born,” he toldPittsburgh Quarterly.

The couple also chose a symbolic moniker for their daughter, naming her after Motown’s original name, Tamla Records. Gordy was also named Tamla’s godfather.

Tamla is close with her entire family but shares an especially tight-knit bond with her father. In 2017, Robinson created the holiday “Father Daughter Day” to celebrate the special relationship between a father and his daughter.

“The father/daughter relationship shapes a young woman’s perspective of men and what to expect from them. I believe that female empowerment begins in the home and fathers must set a healthy example through their personal actions and interactions,” he shared in apress release.

In addition to celebrating his own daughter, he’s also supportive of Tamla’s daughter, Lyric. When his granddaughter graduated from the University of Southern California in 2019, he proudly attended the ceremony andsnapped pictureswith the new graduate afterward.

Trey Robinson

Robinson and Kandi welcomed their son, Trey Robinson, in 1984. Robinson had an on-and-off 20-year affair with Kandi, causing his and Rogers’ marriage to ultimately end. Despite his infidelity, Rogers remained on good terms with both Trey and Kandi.

The prolific songwriter behind some of thebiggest hits of the mid-late 20th centuryrevealed that as Trey was growing up, Kandi even stipulated in her will that if anything happened to her, she wanted Rogers to raise him.

“Most wives wouldn’t want anything to do with [Kandi], but I’m telling you, Claudette is a rare sort of beautiful person,” he previously told PEOPLE.

Trey has chosen to live a life out of the spotlight, and much like his half-brother Berry, doesn’t appear to have a public social media presence. While not much is known about him, he seems to have a good relationship with his half-siblings as Tamla honored him in an Instagram tribute for National Siblings Day.

“Happy National Siblings Day to my Brothers Berry and Trey Robinson (not pictured),” shecaptioned the post, using the hashtag #unconditionallove.

source: people.com