Motown legend Smokey Robinson came to the Roundhouse on Saturday to give the fourth year of the BBC Electric Proms the send-off it deserved.

On the 50th anniversary of Motown Records, its one-time chief executive treated the crowd to the highlights from his career as frontman in The Miracles, successful solo artist and supreme songwriter.

Now 69 but lacking nothing for energy, Robinson remains a peerless entertainer. Whether gyrating at the front of the stage on the funky set opener Going To A Go-Go, or conducting the crowd for a singalong to My Girl, he was a man rejoicing in not acting his age.

And then there’s his voice. A sweet, soulful tenor that has stayed remarkably intact through the years, it easily scaled the sky-scraping melodies of I Second That Emotion and You Really Got A Hold On Me.

In the hands of the BBC Concert Orchestra, songs like The Way You Do The Things You Do and Fly Me To The Moon (one of the evening’s rare covers) gained an extra sense of grandeur.

The man once described by Bob Dylan as “America’s greatest living songwriter” is still penning them, too, and performed a number of tracks from his recent album, Time Flies When You’re Having Fun. “I’m having the time of my life,” declared Robinson before launching into the shimmering jazz of the title track.

It was the old classics, however, that the crowd were waiting for. Tears Of A Clown — the first UK Number 1 for Motown Records — still sounded like a hit more than 40 years on, while Tracks Of My Tears built from hushed beginnings to a gloriously uplifting crescendo.

The King of Motown still reigns supreme.