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 (then in his early teens) 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. 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. 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." 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.
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. Signed to
Star Trak in 2005, Thicke continued work on his second album,
The Evolution of Robin Thicke. 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 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 (with three new bonus tracks) 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. 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." 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.
2008–2010: Something Else and Sex Therapy Thicke released his third solo album, titled
Something Else, on September 30, 2008. It debuted at number three on the
Billboard 200 charts and sold 137,000 copies in the first week. The first single from the album, "
Magic", was a further expansion of the R&B sound that powered his 2006 breakthrough,
The Evolution of Robin Thicke. "Magic" went on to peak at number two on the Adult R&B chart, number six on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart and number 59 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. He followed this success with the second single, "
The Sweetest Love", which peaked at number two on the Adult R&B chart and number 20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. On February 8, 2009, at the
51st Annual Grammy Awards, Thicke took the stage alongside
Lil Wayne to perform their song "Tie My Hands" from the Grammy-winning album
Tha Carter III (the song was also featured on
Something Else) which was followed by Thicke and Lil Wayne participating in a medley of "
Big Chief" and "My Feet Can't Fail Me Now" led by jazz musicians
Allen Toussaint,
Terence Blanchard, and the
Dirty Dozen Brass Band in tribute to
New Orleans and the victims of
Hurricane Katrina. Thicke appeared on an episode of
ABC's
The Bachelor to perform "Magic" and "The Sweetest Love" for the remaining female contestants. Thicke wrote and produced a track for the movie
Precious in which his wife
Paula Patton also starred, though it did not appear on the soundtrack and remains unreleased. He co-headlined a U.S. tour with
Jennifer Hudson, which began March 31, 2009, in
Albany, New York, and wrapped up 25 shows later in
Biloxi, Mississippi. At the start of the tour, Thicke released "
Dreamworld" as the official third single from
Something Else. Earlier in 2009, on October 14,
Leighton Meester's debut single "
Somebody to Love", featuring Thicke, was released. Thicke told MTV he hoped to have
Lil Wayne on the album. He also pointed out that he was featured on Lil Wayne's last two albums
Tha Carter II (2005) and
The Carter III, and Lil Wayne was on his last two albums. "We're kind of good luck charms for each other." Thicke appeared on
ABC's ''
New Year's Rockin' Eve'' on January 1, 2010, and performed three songs in
Las Vegas, in a pre-recorded segment. Also in 2010, it was confirmed that he, along with
Melanie Fiona, would feature on
The Freedom Tour with
Alicia Keys. As of October 2011, the album has sold 289,000 copies in the United States. On February 5, 2010, Thicke participated in
BET's
SOS Saving Ourselves: Help For Haiti telethon concert, held in response to the
2010 Haiti earthquake.
2011–2012: Love After War and Duets During 2011, Thicke was confirmed to go on tour with Jennifer Hudson, with whom he toured in 2009. Later that year, Robin Thicke released his fifth studio album,
Love After War, on December 6, 2011. The album debuted at number twenty-two on the
Billboard 200 and number six on the "
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums" selling 41,000 in its first week. In an interview to promote the album, Thicke said that a lot of the inspiration for the album came from his family. The album has produced three singles. The first is the title track,
"Love After War" released on October 11, 2011, and has peaked at number fourteen on the "
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs" chart and topped the Adult R&B chart making it his second song after "Lost Without U" to top that chart. The music video for the song premiered November 21, 2011. The music video features his wife Paula Patton and consists of Thicke making up with his wife after a fight. The second single is "Pretty Lil' Heart", which features Lil Wayne and was released on November 8, 2011. The music video for that premiered on March 2, 2012. It peaked at number fifty-one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. On May 31, 2012, Thicke released a video for his promo single, which was a cover of the
Whitney Houston classic
"Exhale (Shoop Shoop"). The third official single is "All Tied Up" which was released to
Urban AC radio on April 10, 2012. The music video premiered on June 7, 2012, on
Vevo. Thicke performed "Love After War" on the
2011 Soul Train Music Awards and later returned to the stage to sing
"Reasons", trading verses with
Joe and
Eric Benét, as part of an all-star tribute to Legend Award recipients
Earth, Wind & Fire. Thicke appeared on
season 2 of NBC's
The Voice as a guest adviser/mentor to the contestants on
Adam Levine's team. In July 2012, Thicke made his feature film debut starring alongside
Jaime Pressly in Jimbo Lee's
Abby in the Summer, produced by
Gabriel Cowan, John Suits,
Dallas Sonnier and Jack Heller. The film, shot in 2012, was released in 2014 under the title
Making the Rules. Thicke served as a judge on the
ABC television show
Duets which premiered May 24, 2012, and which also featured
John Legend,
Jennifer Nettles, and
Kelly Clarkson. The judges doubled as mentors who searched for singers across the country (Robin Thicke's singers being Olivia Chisholm and Alexis Foster) to duet with them as they perform in front of a live studio audience. The premiere episode drew in 7 million viewers. The show went live June 28, 2012, allowing the viewers to vote for their favorite contestants.
2013–2014: Blurred Lines and Real Husbands of Hollywood On March 26, 2013, Thicke released "
Blurred Lines" featuring
T.I. and
Pharrell as the lead single to his sixth studio album, also titled
Blurred Lines. The video, featuring models
Emily Ratajkowski, Jessi M'Bengue, and
Elle Evans, was directed by
Diane Martel and released on March 20, 2013, and garnered more than 1 million views in days after release on Vevo. Thicke said he had received the approval of his wife
Paula Patton before shooting the video. In early 2013, Thicke starred as a fictionalized version of himself alongside
Kevin Hart,
Boris Kodjoe,
Nelly,
Duane Martin,
J.B. Smoove,
Nick Cannon, and
Cynthia McWilliams in the first season of BET's hit show
Real Husbands of Hollywood. Thicke was unable to rejoin the cast for the shooting of the second season, opting instead to focus on his music. According to Thicke, "Once the song started to take off, and all this momentum was happening, and
Real Husbands of Hollywood needed me for all eight weeks, I couldn't finish the album and promote the single and go over seas and do all these other things I wanted to do." As Thicke stated to the
Breakfast Club, "The album is called
Blurred Lines. I've realized as I've gotten older that we all think we're living either in a black or white world, or on a straight path, but most of us are living right in between those straight lines. And everything you thought you knew, the older you get, you realize, 'Damn, I don't know nothing about this. I better pay attention, I better listen and keep learning.' So I think that, that's what I've been realizing these past few years." He also said his attempt into a more poppy sound than his normal environment. "The last year I've been wanting to have more fun. I think I took myself very seriously as an artist and I wanted to be like
Marvin Gaye, and
John Lennon and
Bob Marley and these great artists and songwriters that sang about love and sang about relationships," Thicke said. "And then the last year, my wife and I just really wanted to have fun again, we wanted to be young again and we wanted to dance again and go out with our friends, so I wanted to make music that reflected that culture also." The song has been a worldwide hit, has peaked at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100, and has also reached number one in 13 more countries including the United Kingdom, where Blurred Lines became only the 137th record in history to surpass the one million sales mark, and the United States. The new album
Blurred Lines was released on July 30, 2013. The song and related music videos also received criticism for being misogynistic and promoting
rape culture, with some critics calling the lyrics "creepy" and "rapey". In an interview for
GQ magazine Thicke joked about the video, saying, "What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman. I've never gotten to do that before. I've always respected women." In response to Thicke's statement in
GQ that the idea of the video was to be 'derogatory towards women', the director Diane Martel denied this was discussed on set: "That's crazy. Maybe he wasn't thinking when he said that." During an interview with
Oprah Winfrey for ''
Oprah's Next Chapter, Thicke clarified his comment about degrading women, describing it as a "bad joke", noting that the published GQ'' interview did not mention that he was doing an impersonation of
Will Ferrell's
Ron Burgundy character while making the remark, thus not providing the sarcastic/joking context. The song's unrated music video was originally banned from
YouTube before being reposted some weeks later. During the performance, Cyrus danced in such a way as to mimic a sexual act with Thicke. Afterwards, Cyrus said that Thicke had explicitly asked her to be "as naked as possible" during the performance. According to the same source, "Thicke was angry with Cyrus for 'going too far' during the VMAs, and that he thought the '
Wrecking Ball' songstress had 'hijacked the performance.'" The performance drew negative reactions for its alleged raunchiness,
sexism, racism,
slut-shaming, It became the most tweeted about event in history, with
Twitter users generating 360,000 tweets about the event per minute, breaking the previous record held by
Beyoncé's
Super Bowl XLVII halftime show performance six months earlier. On December 6, 2013, Thicke and
T.I. performed "Blurred Lines" accompanied by
Earth, Wind & Fire at
The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! on
CBS where it was announced that Thicke had been nominated for three
Grammy Awards at the
56th Annual Grammy Awards:
Best Pop Vocal Album for
Blurred Lines and
Record of the Year and
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for the album's single "Blurred Lines". In the same month, he was awarded the title "Sexist of the Year" by the
End Violence Against Women Coalition, which has more than 60 member groups working to end sexual and domestic violence, trafficking and other forms of abuse. Thicke received twice as many votes as the poll's runner up,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron. It was parodied many times and forbidden in many UK student unions. After the success of "Blurred Lines", the heirs of singer
Marvin Gaye sued Thicke and
Pharrell Williams, claiming that the song had plagiarised Gaye's "
Got to Give It Up". Jurors awarded Gaye $7.4 million, but
United States District Judge John Kronstadt reduced the sum to $5.3 million, while adding royalties.
2014–2018: Paula and television appearances In February 2014, Thicke collaborated with
DJ Cassidy and British singer
Jessie J to record "
Calling All Hearts". In June 2014, Thicke announced that his next album would be called
Paula, dedicated to his estranged wife,
Paula Patton. The lead single "
Get Her Back" was released on May 19, 2014. Thicke debuted the song on the same day with a performance at the
2014 Billboard Music Awards where he also won
four awards for "Blurred Lines". Thicke also appeared on the season finale of
The Voice singing "Get Her Back" with finalist
Josh Kaufman. Thicke then performed the song "Forever Love" at the
BET Awards 2014. At the end of June 2014, during a Q&A session on Twitter and hosted by
VH1, Thicke asked followers to submit questions by using the
hashtag #AskThicke. The tag was quickly overrun by people protesting his lyrics as misogynistic and criticizing his lifestyle choices, and other detractors, leading to what
The Guardian called "an epic
PR fail". When a Twitter user pointed out that the comments directed at Thicke were "brutal", Thicke responded: "I can handle it, I'm a big boy". The album, originally set for a Fall release, was pushed forward and released on July 1, 2014, five weeks after the release of its lead single.
Paula peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, and sold 24,000 copies in its first week of release. In a 2015 interview with
Jody Rosen of
The New York Times, Thicke expressed both embarrassment over his public dedications and regret over giving the album a commercial release, stating, "my record company didn't want me to put it out, but they stuck by me. In hindsight, the only thing I would have done differently was, I wouldn't have promoted it or sold it. I would have given it away." in 2017 Following the release of
Paula, Thicke spent several months largely away from media appearances and performing in order to focus on his personal life and to work on new music. Thicke returned to the spotlight at the
BET Awards 2015 to sing the classic
Smokey Robinson and The Miracles hit "
Ooo Baby Baby" in tribute to Lifetime Achievement Award recipient
Smokey Robinson and joined Robinson on stage for a group rendition of "
My Girl" alongside
Tori Kelly and
Ne-Yo. On June 29, on the heels of his BET Awards performance, Thicke debuted the
lyric video for his new single "Morning Sun", on Vevo followed by the official release of the single on June 30. "Morning Sun" rose to the number 4 position on the
Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart becoming Thicke's 11th top 10 hit on Urban AC radio. Speaking with
Prestige Hong Kong, Thicke explained: "The new album is call[ed]
Morning Sun. It's about fresh starts, new beginnings, and the heralding in of a new day. It's about the last year of my life, the time I've spent with my friends and family and especially my son." Thicke rejoined the cast of
Real Husbands of Hollywood in 2016 for its fifth season. In the premiere episode, Thicke
parodied his publicized personal and professional troubles including his divorce, lawsuit, drug use and poorly received album.
2019–present: The Masked Singer and On Earth, and in Heaven In January 2019, Thicke began appearing as a panelist on the reality competition series
The Masked Singer. After nearly eight years since their hit collaboration, "Blurred Lines", Thicke and producer
Pharrell Williams reunited for the single "Take Me Higher", released on January 21, 2021. It was included on his eighth studio album,
On Earth, and in Heaven, released on February 12, 2021, through his Lucky Music label in partnership with
Empire Distribution. It marked his first album since 2014's
Paula. Thicke explained the album's inspiration: "I feel like I'm finally the person I set out to be. I'm able to laugh at anything, which I've realized is the greatest superpower. I've fully embraced it, and nothing has been better for my soul. When I saw the phrase 'On Earth, and in Heaven', I realized that's what I'm singing about: the people who aren't here and the people who are here that made me who I am. This music is the sunshine coming out after the rain". Thicke collected his sixth No. 1 on Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay chart with "Look Easy" on the list dated for August 21, 2021. In early October 2021, fragments from model and actress
Emily Ratajkowski's forthcoming book,
My Body, were leaked online, where she claimed that Thicke groped her breasts without her consent in 2013 during the filming of the music video for the song "
Blurred Lines". According to
Time magazine and other sources, Ratajkowski was frustrated about the leaked chapter and said it was taken "out of the essay's context". She said, "It's been hard for me. I really like to have control over my image and I wrote this book of essays to share the whole story and all sides of it, and I feel like it turns into a clickbait frenzy and all of a sudden words like 'sexual assault' and 'allegations' are getting thrown around rather than people reading the actual essay... I'm just looking forward to when people will be able hear things in my own words." Thicke has not publicly responded. ==Artistry==