Robin Thicke is the voice of ‘Blurred Lines’, that legendary pop single that became one of the key songs of the 2010s and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time on both sides of the Atlantic. It was a hit all over the world, topping the charts in America, Britain, Australia, and all across Europe. It went 29x platinum and 2 x diamond. Across YouTube and Spotify it has been streamed over 1.5 billion times. But Thicke is no one-hit wonder and has enjoyed Billboard Adult R&B number ones with ‘Lost Without U’, ‘Love After War’, ‘For the Rest of My Life’, ‘That’s What Love Can Do’, and most recently, ‘Look Easy’. He has guested on tracks with stars as diverse as Lil Wayne, Kenny G, and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry. His eighth studio album, On Earth, and in Heaven, was released in 2021.
Thicke’s career began back in the 1990s. He initially built a reputation as an R&B writer, contributing to songs by the era-defining likes of Brandy, 3T, and Christina Aguilera. One of his songs was also demoed by Michael Jackson. He released his debut solo album, A Beautiful World, in 2003. However, it wasn’t until late in 2006 that he broke through, topping the US R&B charts with ‘Lost Without U’, a ballad later voted the sexiest of the year. He became the first R&B-chart-topping white male since George Michael.
In 2013, Thicke’s single with longtime collaborator Pharrell Williams, ‘Blurred Lines’, changed everything. The song has not been without its controversy, but its dancefloor appeal and the impact it made when it first dropped cannot be underestimated. It simply defines the sound of the early 2010s. Almost ten years and many other successful singles later, he remains a major artist, with over 60 million record sales to his credit.
