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| My GuyMary Wells |
Writer(s): Smokey Robinson (see lyrics here) Released: March 13, 1964 First Charted: March 28, 1964 Peak: 12 BB, 11 CB, 2 GR, 2 HR, 17 RB, 5 UK, 7 CN, 12 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.2 UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 11.9 video, 168.60 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:Smokey Robinson is best known as a performer, but also proved himself an impressive songwriter. His group, The Miracles, was one of the first to sign with what later became Motown. He was the chief songwriter for the group, but also wrote for other Motown acts including the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, the Marvelettes, the Temptations, and Mary Wells. Like Robinson, Wells was born in Detroit in the early ‘40s. She was 17 when she sang “Bye Bye Baby,” a song she wrote, for Motown’s Berry Gordy. He signed her on the spot. RC With her “soft-voiced, gently sexy style…Wells became “Motown’s first important solo female star.” SS She reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 four times – each with a song written by Robinson. The most successful of these was the #1 hit “My Guy,” “the first Motown record to become a top international hit.” SS “’My Guy’ is a warm, happy declaration of a girls’ eternal loyalty to her man.” SS Author Thomas Ryan said, “Every girl wanted to find a boy she could feel this wa about, and every boy wanted his girl to be this true.” TR The song charted again three more times – Petula Clark hit #70 with it in 1972, Ami Stewart & Johnny Bristol took a medley of the song with Robinson’s “My Girl” to #63 in 1980, and Sister Sledge reached #23 with their rendition in 1982. Unfortunately, the song also signalled the end. Wells, now 21, had her Motown contract invalidated in court because she signed it when she was underage. She signed with Twentieth Century Fox for a half million dollar advance but, sadly, never again came close to the success she’d had with Motown, only achieving one minor top-40 hit. SS Resources:
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First posted 4/22/2025. |
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