WASHINGTON – Music legend Smokey Robinson reached out to a new generation of performing artists Friday, telling them they were starting out as he did: “with a love for doing something creative.”

Robinson, 72, visited Duke Ellington School of the Arts, named for the jazz great whose music Robinson said was the first he heard in his life because it was always playing in his Detroit home.

Additional Photos

Singer Smokey Robinson hugs Lauryn Nesbitt, 16, after she read a poem she wrote to honor him on Friday at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington. Photos by The Associated Press

Cee Lo Green: Vegas beckons

Nicholas Prugo

Robinson said any of the students could follow him as a singing sensation.

“If you see somebody and they are 15 and you say ‘Oh, there’s a new artist.’ No, they’ve been doing it since they were 6.”

He said he started singing the day he was born “according to my mom.” He sang in various bands in high school, including The Miracles. Just after high school, he connected with Berry Gordy, with whom he would later form the Motown label. The label’s first hit was Robinson’s “Shop Around.”

He went on to make such hits as “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me,” “Tracks of My Tears” and “Tears of a Clown.”

“I thank God for my life, because as a baby when I was 3 and 4 and 5 years old, I wanted to be a singer, but I grew up in the ‘hood in Detroit and I didn’t know if that was possible, so I am living my wildest childhood dream right now,” he said.

Robinson said he is working on a Christmas song and plans another in Spanish. Edward Ellington, son of Duke Ellington, said Robinson told him after they left the school that he is learning Spanish.

Robinson also planned to perform today at a sold-out benefit concert for the school at the Kennedy Arts Center.

“I think it’s a shame that many of our schools have had to cut our arts programs and especially the inner-city schools,” said Robinson.

Cee Lo Green to star in Las Vegas production

LAS VEGAS – The singer-songwriter behind the Grammy-winning 2010 single “Forget You” and the 2006 hit “Crazy” is settling down — at least for a few months — in Las Vegas.

Cee Lo Green says his semi-permanent show, “Loberace,” will launch Aug. 29 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino and run at least through the end of the year.

“The production will combine Cee Lo’s flamboyant sense of style and over-the-top creativity,” producers said in a statement.

Organizers say the show will include tributes to Prince and the Rolling Stones. “Mind-twisting magic and sexified showgirls” are also on tap.

Green, 37, known for his soulful voice and extravagant costumes, is a coach on the NBC show “The Voice.”

Ringleader of burglaries gets plea deal

LOS ANGELES – A man accused of leading a series of burglaries at the Hollywood Hills homes of celebrities pleaded no contest Friday to stealing from Lindsay Lohan and Audrina Patridge, a star of MTV’s series “The Hills.”

Nicholas Frank Prugo spoke softly as he entered the pleas under a deal that includes two years in state prison and requires him to testify against three remaining defendants charged with breaking into the homes of Paris Hilton and Lohan.

Prugo and others were accused of break-ins that netted more than $3 million in jewelry, high-end clothes, art and other goods. Most of the property has never been recovered.

Prugo, 21, was initially charged with burglarizing the homes of Hilton, Orlando Bloom and Rachel Bilson, but those counts were dropped in exchange for his plea. He will be responsible for restitution awards stemming from the break-ins, prosecutor Christine Kee said.

Two others charged in the case, Rachel Lee and Alexis Neiers, also accepted plea deals. The plea deals have spared the stars from testifying at trials about the break-ins.

— From news services

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