and Pharrell Williams), which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time.

[8][9] His parents are American actress-singer Gloria Loring, who appeared on the NBC daytime drama Days of Our Lives, and Canadian actor Alan Thicke (1947–2016), known for his role on the TV sitcom Growing Pains, but they composed theme music such as Diff'rent Strokes and its spin-off The Facts of Life.

[14][18][19] 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.

[20][21] 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.

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.

[21] Reflecting on A Beautiful World in 2013, Usher told The New York Times, "I was blown away — I thought Beatles, Earth Wind & Fire, Shuggie Otis, Marvin Gaye — all in one album.

'"[15] Pharrell Williams, having established a distribution deal with Interscope for his record label, Star Trak, expressed to Jimmy Iovine his interest in Thicke, whose talent he thought of highly.

[37] The first single, "Wanna Love U Girl", featured producer Williams and charted successfully on urban radio in the United Kingdom.

[51] 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.

[63][64] 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.

[80] 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.

[82] 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.

[85] 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.

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.

[93][85] On August 25, at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, Thicke performed "Blurred Lines" with Miley Cyrus, who famously twerked on stage, followed by "Give It 2 U" with 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar.

The tag was quickly overrun by people protesting against his lyrics criticized as misogynistic, his lifestyle choices and other detractors leading to what The Guardian called "an epic PR fail".

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.

"[120][121] 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.

[124][125] "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.

[129] In the premiere episode, Thicke parodied his publicized personal and professional troubles including his divorce, lawsuit, drug use and poorly received album.

[133][134] Thicke has drawn influence from a variety of artists including James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sting, Prince, Alanis Morissette, The Beatles, John Lennon, Bob Marley and Michael Jackson.

[139][140] Albums on which Thicke's songwriting, producing, and other contributions have been featured include: Brandy's Brandy, Brian Mcknight's I Remember You,[141] Brownstone's Still Climbing,[142] Jordan Knight,[143] Chante Moore's This Moment Is Mine,[144] Marc Anthony,[145] P!nk's Can't Take Me Home,[146] Ronan Keating's Ronan,[147] Mýa's Fear of Flying,[148] BBMak's Sooner or Later,[149] both Will Young's Friday's Child[150] and Keep On.

[160] In total, albums on which Thicke has been credited for his work (in capacities including writer, producer, arranger, vocalist, and musician) have sold over 60 million copies worldwide.

[162] Thicke also often enlists veteran session guitarist and songwriter Bobby Keyes as well as keyboardist and music director Larry Cox to contribute to his projects.

[167][168] In 2008, Thicke was enlisted by producer Polow da Don to play piano on the hit Usher track "Love in This Club", which reached the #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100.

[171] Thicke was featured along with bassist Verdine White on Flo Rida's "I Don't Like It, I Love It" in 2015 which found success on several international charts and peaked among the top 10 singles in seven countries.

At age 14, Robin Thicke first met actress Paula Patton, who was then 16, in 1991 at an under-21 hip-hop club called Balistyx (co-founded and co-hosted by David Faustino) on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, when he asked her to dance.

[184] On November 10, 2018, Geary revealed in an Instagram story she and Thicke had lost their Malibu, California home to the Woolsey wildfire that had been consuming the area.

[185] Two days later, Thicke returned to his property, describing the totality of the fire in a video for Entertainment Tonight: "It's funny, [from what] you see in movies, you'd think there would be one doll left over, or a book of course, something.

[190] 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[191] in 2013 during the filming of the music video for the song "Blurred Lines".