Kennedy William Gordy was born in Detroit on March 15, 1964, to Margaret Norton and Motown founder Berry Gordy, who named him after President John F. Kennedy and William "Smokey" Robinson. Wary of being seen as the boss's son, he arranged his own audition and signed with Motown without his father's knowledge, taking the stage name Rockwell because, he said, he rocked well. His 1983 debut single, Somebody's Watching Me, featured childhood friend Michael Jackson singing the chorus without credit and Jermaine Jackson on backing vocals.
The song went gold, reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 in the UK, and held No. 1 on the R&B chart for five weeks. Obscene Phone Caller became his second and last top 40 hit. His 1985 album Captured, led by He's a Cobra with Stevie Wonder, stalled at No. 120, and after the 1986 album The Genie he left music. Later decades included charity work and a brief marriage to Nicole Moore. In November 2018 he was arrested at Hollywood's Magic Castle Hotel, accused of beating a female associate with a chair after she demanded payment.
His relatives include half-brother Redfoo and nephew Sky Blue of LMFAO, and half-sister Rhonda Ross Kendrick.
His cover of the Beatles' Taxman reached only No. 88 in the UK.
Peeping Tom appeared on the soundtrack of The Last Dragon but failed to chart.
He was released on $30,000 bail, and a 2019 lawsuit said the woman's broken arm required surgery.
Somebody's Watching Me re-entered the UK chart in 2021 at No. 47.
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