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. Related Links: First posted 4/22/2025.

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" hit #1 for the second time - 20 years after the first time

You Keep Me Hangin’ On The Supremes

Writer(s): Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland (see lyrics here) Released: October 12, 1966 First Charted: October 29, 1966 Peak: 12 BB, 11 CB, 11 GR, 12 HR, 14 RB, 8 UK, 3 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.08 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 13.7 video, 52.05 streaming

You Keep Me Hangin’ On Vanilla Fudge

Released: June 1967 First Charted: July 1, 1967 Peak: 6 BB, 7 CB, 12 GR, 7 HR, 6 CL 18 UK, 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 10.8 video, 22.10 streaming

You Keep Me Hangin’ On Kim Wilde

Released: September 19, 1986 First Charted: October 25, 1986 Peak: 1 BB, 11 BA, 2 CB, 11 GR, 11 RR, 30 AC, 1 CO, 2 UK, 11 CN, 12 AU, 8 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.25 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 21.4 video, 82.43 streaming

Awards (Supremes): Click on award for more details.

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Awards (Vanilla Fudge):

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Awards (Kim Wilde):

About the Song: The Supremes were signed to Motown at the urging of Smokey Robinson, who was Diana Ross’ neighbor. RC In 1963, the trio were paired with the writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. It was one of the most successful matches in pop history, resulting in nine #1 songs. The Supremes would go on to reach the pinnacle three more times in their post H-D-H years. “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” was the eighth of those #1 songs. “Lamont Dozier came up with the stuttering guitar part, inspired by radio signals for news flashes.” RC It also featured “one of the definitive Motown tambourine bits and a deep, dark drum and bass pattern” DM alongside Diana Ross’s “ultra-airhead vocal.” DM In 1967, Vanilla Fudge – who called their music “psychedelic-symphonic rock” TB – did what co-writer Brian Holland called “a brilliant re-adaption.” TB “Where Diana Ross was full of fire and life, the Fudge’s version was dark and desperate,” TC “imbiding it with kaleidoscopic moods” DT and creating the “inescapable blueprint for every Prog band of the next two or three years.” DT Organist Mark Stein reportedly came up with the “slow and soulful” TC version by playing the 45 record at 33 speed. TC 20 years after the Supremes took the song to the top of the charts, Kim Wilde’s cover went to #1. It marked only the sixth time in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 that two different artists took a song to #1. It was the first time three versions of a song reached the top 10. FB In the UK, the English dance/pop singer had charted eleven times before “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” including her #2 hit “Kids in America,” which also reached the top 40 in the U.S. Surprisingly, Wilde was unaware of the previous success of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” when she covered it. FB Lamont Dozier, one of the song’s co-writers, said he “liked the fresh sound.” FB Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Vanilla Fudge DMDB encyclopedia entry for Kim Wilde FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 667. RC Rod Couch (2015). The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. Page 181. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Pages 601-2. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 514. DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 217. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 97. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/21/2024.

Commodores “Brick House” charted

Brick House Commodores

Writer(s): Lionel Richie, Milan Williams, Walter Orange, Ronald LaPread, Thomas McClary, William King (see lyrics here) First Charted: Auugst 26, 1977 Peak: 5 BB, 6 CB, 5 GR, 9 HR, 10 RR, 4 RB, 32 UK, 24 CN, 4 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 48.16 video, 138.88 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The Commodores were a horn-driven funk collective that formed at Tuskegee University (then Tuskegee Institute) in 1968. They won a freshman talent contest and went on to play fraternity parties and weekend gigs while in college. In 1972, they signed to Motown. The group’s debut album, Machine Gun, was released in 1974. The album’s instrumental title track became their first chart hit, reaching #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on the R&B chart. The group, however, would come to be known more for slower fare like “Sweet Love,” “Just to Be Close to You,” and “Easy” – all of which hit the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. These Lionel Richie-helmed ballads came to define the band. He was also the voice behind future hits such as “Three Times a Lady,” “Sail On,” and “Still.” However, the group never abandoned their funk sound. The fifth studio album, Commodores, showed both sides of the band with “Easy” as the lead single and “Brick House” as the follow-up. Drummer Walter Orange tended to handle the more upbeat, funk numbers. “Brick House” was the most successful of these. Songfacts.com said it “epitomizes the funky side of the Commodores.” SF Richie said the phrase is a play on the expression “built like a brick shithouse,” a reference to a strongly built woman. WK The band’s guitarist and trumpeter William King was tasked to write a song and fell asleep at home before completing the task. His wife Shirley, however, was also a songwriter and wrote the words while he was sleeping. The band then put a groove to the words at a jam session. SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Commodores SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 4/16/2024.