Robin Thicke

Son of actress-singer Gloria Loring and "Growing Pains" star Alan Thicke, Robin Thicke developed his musical talents early on and by his late teens was writing pop songs for a bevy of major label artists. He made his debut as a singer himself in 2002 with the infectious single "When I Get You Alone," which wound up on two separate movie soundtracks and on his debut album A Beautiful World (2003). Waiting three years, he issued his sophomore album, The Evolution of Robin Thicke, which went platinum, buoyed by the much-played single "Lost Without U," and effectively put him on the major-label radar, as evinced by his 2007 stint as an opener for Beyoncé. By most critical appraisals, Thicke hit stride in 2009 with the sexier, distinctly bluer body of work, Sex Therapy. With five studio albums under his belt, he took his star to television in 2012 as a judge on the music competition "Duets." (ABC, 2012 ). Although it took a while for mainstream music fans to catch on, Thicke did manage to establish himself as a legitimate entrant into the tradition of "blue-eyed soul," in spite of his pedigree as the son of a man affectionately known for years as one of the "whitest guys in show business."