Showing posts with label Mary Wells. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Smokey Robinson: Top 100 Songs

First posted 2/14/2020.

Smokey Robinson

Image from shazam.com

R&B singer/songwriter born William Robinson, Jr. on 2/19/1940 in Detroit, Michigan. With The Miracles (55-72) and later a solo artist. Record executive and songwriter for Motown.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs

This list includes Robinson’s work as a solo artist, with the Miracles, and as a songwriter. The recording artist is noted in parentheses. Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to singles charts.)

DMDB Top 1%:

1. My Girl (Temptations, 1964) #1 US, RB
2. The Tracks of My Tears (The Miracles, 1965)

DMDB Top 5%:

3. The Tears of a Clown (The Miracles, 1970) #1 US, CB, RB, UK
4. My Guy (Mary Wells, 1964) #1 US, CB, RB, AU
5. Shop Around (The Miracles, 1960) #1 RB
6. You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me (The Miracles, 1962) #1 RB
7. Being with You (Smokey Robinson, 1981) #1 CB, HR, RR, RB, UK
8. The Way You Do the Things You Do (The Temptations, 1964)
9. Ooo Baby Baby (The Miracles, 1965)

DMDB Top 10%:

10. I Second That Emotion (The Miracles, 1967) #1 RB
11. Love Machine (The Miracles, 1975) #1 US, CB, HR
12. Cruisin’ (Smokey Robinson, 1979) #1 CB
13. The Tracks of My Tears (Linda Ronstadt, 1975)
14. Get Ready (The Temptations, 1966) #1 RB
15. Going to a Go-Go (The Miracles, 1965)
16. Ooh Baby Baby (Linda Ronstadt, 1978)
17. Get Ready (Rare Earth, 1969)
18. The Way You Do the Things You Do (UB40, 1989)

DMDB Top 20%:

19. Ain’t That Peculiar (Marvin Gaye, 1965) #1 RB
20. Shop Around (Captain & Tennille, 1976) #1 AC

21. The Way You Do the Things You Do (Hall & Oates, 1985)
22. More Love (Kim Carnes, 1980)
23. Since I Lost My Baby (The Temptations, 1965)
24. Just to See Her (Smokey Robinson, 1987) #1 AC
25. My Girl (Hall & Oates, 1985)
26. Going to a Go-Go (The Rolling Stones, 1982)
27. More Love (The Miracles, 1967)
28. Floy Joy (The Supremes, 1971)
29. It’s Growing (The Temptations, 1965)
30. Who’s Lovin’ You (The Jackson 5, 1969)

31. Come ‘Round Here, I’m the One You Need (The Miracles, 1966)
32. Automatically Sunshine (The Supremes, 1972)
33. Still Water (Love) (The Four Tops, 1970)
34. I’ll Try Something New (The Miracles, 1962)
35. One Heartbeat (Smokey Robinson, 1987)
36. I’ll Be Doggone (Marvin Gaye, 1965) #1 RB
37. I Don’t Blame You at All (The Miracles, 1971)
38. The Composer (The Supremes, 1969)
39. Mickey’s Monkey (The Miracles, 1963)
40. Do It Baby (The Miracles, 1974)
41. My Guy (Sister Sledge, 1982)

Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:

42. If You Can Want (The Miracles, 1968)
43. Pops, We Love You (A Tribute to Father) (Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, & Stevie Wonder; 1978)
44. I’ll Be in Trouble (The Temptations, 1964)
45. The Tracks of My Tears (Aretha Franklin, 1969)
46. Don’t Look Back (The Temptations, 1965)
47. One More Heartache (Marvin Gaye, 1966)
48. The Way You Do the Things You Do (Rita Coolidge, 1978)
49. My Baby (The Temptations, 1965)
50. Two Lovers (Mary Wells, (1962) #1 RB

51. I Gotta Dance to Keep from Crying (The Miracles, 1963)
52. The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage (The Miracles, 1967)
53. First I Look at the Purse (The Contours, 1965)
54. Your Wonderful, Sweet, Sweet Love (The Supremes, 1972)
55. A Breath Taking Guy (The Supremes, 1963)
56. Cruisin’ (Huey Lewis & Gwyneth Paltrow, 2000) #1 AC, AU
57. You Threw a Lucky Punch (Gene Chandler, 1962)
58. Who’s Lovin’ You (Brenda & the Tabulations, 1967)
59. The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game (The Marvelettes, 1966)
60. You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me (Eddie Money, 1977)

61. You Beat Me to the Punch (Mary Wells, 1962) #1 RB
62. When I’m Gone (Brenda Holloway, 1965)
63. That’s What Love Is Made Of (The Miracles, 1964)
64. What’s So Good About Goodbye (The Miracles, 1962)
65. Way Over There (The Miracles, 1960)
66. Take This Heart of Mine (Marvin Gaye, 1966)
67. The One Who Really Loves You (Mary Wells, 1962)
68. Don’t Mess with Bill (The Marvelettes, 1966)
69. Ebony Eyes (Rick James with Smokey Robinson, 1983)
70. My Guy/My Girl (Amii Stewart & Johnny Bristol, 1980)

71. Ain’t It Baby (The Miracles, 1961)
72. Baby, Baby Don’t Cry (The Miracles, 1969)
73. Happy (Bobby Darin, 1972)
74. A Love She Can Count On (The Miracles, 1963)
75. My Guy (Petula Clark, 1972)
76. I Like It Like That (The Miracles, 1964)
77. Everybody’s Gotta Pay Some Dues (The Miracles, 1961)
78. Mighty Good Lovin’ (The Miracles, 1961)
79. The Tears of a Clown (The English Beat, 1979)
80. Blame It on Love (Smokey Robinson & Barbara Mitchell, 1983)

81. Walk and Don’t Look Back (Peter Tosh with Mick Jagger, 1978)
82. Who’s Lovin’ You (Terence Trent D’Arby, 1987)
83. My Girl Has Gone (The Miracles, 1965)
84. Happy (Michael Jackson, 1973)
85. Tell Me Tomorrow (Smokey Robinson, 1982)
86. Old Fashioned Love (Smokey Robinson, 1982)
87. We’ve Saved the Best for Last (Kenny G with Smokey Robinson, 1989)
88. Come on Do the Jerk (The Miracles, 1964)
89. What’s Too Much (Smokey Robinson, 1987)
90. Special Occasion (The Miracles, 1968)

91. Yester Love (The Miracles, 1968)
92. My Girl (Suave, 1988)
93. Double Good Everything (Smokey Robinson, 1991)
94. We’ve Come Too Far to End It Now (The Miracles, 1972)
95. Bad Girl (The Miracles, 1959)
96. You Can’t Let the Boy Overpower the Man in You (The Miracles, 1964)
97. Whole Lot of Shakin’ in My Heart Since I Met You (The Miracles, 1966)
98. Doggone Right (The Miracles, 1969)
99. Point It Out (The Miracles, 1969)
100. Abraham, Martin and John (The Miracles, 1969)

Resources and Related Links:

Friday, May 16, 2014

Today in Music (1964): Mary Wells hit #1 with “My Guy”

My Guy

Mary 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.

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:

^RC Rod Couch (2015). The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. Page 533.
^TR Thomas Ryan (1996). American Hit Radio. Prima Publishing: Rocklin, CA. Page 127.
^SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 631.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Marvin Gaye's Top 50 Songs

image from ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com

April 2, 1939: Marvin Gaye was born. According to the DMDB, he ranks #3 on the list of top 100 R&B acts. He also rates as one of the top 100 singers of all time and one of the top 100 songwriters of the rock era. He got his start singing in his father’s Apostolic church in vocal groups the Rainbows and Marquees. He joined Harvey Fuqua in the re-formed Moonglows. He moved to Detroit in 1960 and got session work as a drummer at Motown. He first recorded under his own name in 1961. That same year he married Anna Gordy, the sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy. They divorced in 1975. On the eve of his 45th birthday – April 1, 1984 – he was tragically shot and killed by his own father after a quarrel.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine

1. I Heard It Through the Grapevine (1968)
2. What’s Going On (1971)
3. Let’s Get It On (1973)
4. Sexual Healing (1982)
5. How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You (1964)

What’s Going On

6. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (with Tammi Terrell, 1967)
7. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology Song) (1971)
8. It Takes Two (with Kim Weston, 1966)
9. Got to Give It Up (1977)
10. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (1971)

Let’s Get It On

11. Your Precious Love (with Tammi Terrell, 1967)
12. Too Busy Thinking About My Baby (1969)
13. Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing (with Tammi Terrell, 1968)
14. You’re All I Need to Get By (with Tammi Terrell, 1968)
15. Ain’t That Peculiar (1965)

Sexual Healing

16. I’ll Be Doggone (1965)
17. I Want You (1976)
18. Can I Get a Witness (1963)
19. You’re a Wonderful One (1964)
20. If I Could Build My Whole World Around You (with Tammi Terrell, 1967)

How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You

21. Pride and Joy (1963)
22. That’s the Way Love Is (1969)
23. Hitch Hike (1963)
24. My Mistake Was to Love You (with Diana Ross, 1974)
25. Trouble Man (1972)

26. You’re a Special Part of Me (1973)
27. One More Heartache (1966)
28. Stubborn Kind of Fellow (1962)
29. Once Upon a Time (with Mary Wells, 1964)
30. Come Get to This (1973)

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

31. Try It Baby (1964)
32. Baby Don’t You Do It (1964)
33. What’s the Matter with You (with Mary Wells, 1964)
34. Keep on Lovin’ Me Honey (with Tammi Terrell, 1968)
35. Pretty Little Baby (1965)

Mercy Mercy Me

36. Music (with Erick Sermon, 2001)
37. Distant Lover (1974)
38. You (1968)
39. Chained (1968)
40. Your Unchanging Love (1967)

It Takes Two

41. Little Darling, I Need You (1966)
42. The End of Our Road (1970)
43. Good Lovin’ Ain’t Easy to Come By (with Valerie Simpson, 1969)
44. How Can I Forget (1970)
45. Take This Heart of Mine (1966)

Got to Give It Up

46. You’re the Man (1972)
47. You Sure Love to Ball (1974)
48. What You Gave Me (with Valerie Simpson, 1969)
49. Don’t Knock My Love (with Diana Ross, 1974)
50. Pops, We Love You (A Tribute) (with Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, & Stevie Wonder, 1978)

Inner City Blues