Mary Wells - My Guy 'n' Me

Mary Wells was Motown's first great star - the Miracles had a hit with Smokey Robinson's "Shop Around" in 1960, but it was Wells' string of hits in 1962 that really made their reputation: "The One Who Really Loves You," "You Beat Me To The Punch," and "Two Lovers," all of which hit the Top 10 on the pop charts. The next several singles were less impressive, but in 1964 she topped the charts with Robinson's "My Guy," and then placed both sides of a duet single with Marvin Gaye ("Once Upon A Time"/"What's The Matter With You Baby") in the Top 40. Later the same year, Wells unexpectedly quit Motown for 20th Century Fox, having been promised a movie career that never materialized. She put out a string of flop singles over the next few years - only 1965's "Use Your Head" broke into the Top 40 - and then faded into obscurity. After a few unsuccessful comeback attempts and tours on the oldies circuit, Wells died of cancer in 1992.

Wells got her big break by auditioning her own "Bye Bye Baby" to Motown founder Berry Gordy; Gordy promptly signed her and released the song as a single, which did fairly well with R & B audiences. But after that point she was firmly in the hands of Gordy and his team of writers and producers, falling into a dependent pattern that was followed by all major Motown singers until the end of the decade. Between that and quitting the company so early, it's not really clear how far her career might have eventually gotten: successors like Diana Ross went on to much greater things. (According to one source, Gordy strongarmed disk jockeys into not playing her records, bribing them with exclusive airing rights to Supremes singles.)

Release Date October 4, 1999
Duration 30:07
label: Jobete
my cd > flac
full scans

Track Listing
1. What Love Has Joined Together
2. Laughing Boy
3. What's Easy for Two Is So Hard for One
4. My Guy
5. Operator
6. Two Lovers
7. The One Who Really Loves You
8. You Beat Me to the Punch
9. Your Old Standby
10. You Lost the Sweetest Boy
11. Old Love (Let's Try Again)

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