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FIFTEEN WEEKS overall on the singles chart, “My Guy” by Mary Wells peaked at #1 this week (2 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100. Beginning May 10 through week ending, May 23, 1964. (Source: Billboard)
For our previous Billboard 1964 Number One U.S.A. Hits go HERE
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“What’s Easy for Two Is Hard for One” (also known as “What’s Easy for Two Is So Hard for One“) is a song written and produced by Smokey Robinson and released as a single by singer Mary Wells for the Motown label.
Wells’s teaming with Robinson led to a succession of hit singles over the following two years. Their first collaboration, 1962’s “The One Who Really Loves You”, was Wells’s first hit, peaking at number 2 on the R&B chart and number 8 on the Hot 100. The song featured a calypso-styled soul production that defined Wells’s early hits. Motown released the similar-sounding “You Beat Me To The Punch” a few months later. The song became her first R&B number 1 single and peaked at number 9 on the pop chart.
The success of “You Beat Me to the Punch” helped to make Wells the first Motown star to be nominated for a Grammy Award when the song was nominated for Best Rock & Roll Recording in 1963.
In late 1962, “Two Lovers” became Wells’s third consecutive single to hit the Top 10 of Billboard‘s Hot 100, peaking at number 7 and becoming her second number 1 hit on the R&B chart. This helped to make Wells the first female solo artist to have three consecutive Top 10 singles on the pop chart. The track sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.
Wells’s second album, also titled ‘The One Who Really Loves You’, was released in 1962 and peaked at number 8 on the pop albums chart, making the teenage singer a breakthrough star and giving her clout at Motown. Wells’s success at the label was recognized when she became a headliner during the first string of Motortown Revue concerts, starting in the fall of 1962. The singer showcased a rawer stage presence that contrasted with her softer R&B recordings.
Wells’s success continued in 1963 when she hit the Top 20 with the doo-wop ballad “Laughing Boy” and scored three additional Top 40 singles, “Your Old Standby”, “You Lost the Sweetest Boy”, and its A-side, “What’s Easy for Two Is So Hard for One”. “You Lost the Sweetest Boy” was one of the first hit singles composed by the successful Motown songwriting and producing trio of Holland–Dozier–Holland, though Robinson remained Wells’s primary producer.
Also in 1963, Wells recorded a session of successful B-sides that arguably became as well known as her hits, including “Operator”, “What Love Has Joined Together”, “Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right” and “Old Love (Let’s Try It Again)”. Wells and Robinson also recorded a duet titled “I Want You ‘Round”, which would be re-recorded by Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston.
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Source: Mary Wells; Wikipedia
Above featured Billboard Motown ad digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
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Released October 26, “What’s Easy For Two Is So Hard For One” peaked at #8 (charted 21 total weeks R&B overall) on the Billboard R&B chart in 1963 into 1964. B-side: “You Lost The Sweetest Boy”
MOTOWN 1048 (Source: Billboard Top R&B Singles)
MARY WELLS
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Released June 24, “I Don’t Want To Take A Chance” peaked at #9 (8 total weeks) on the Billboard R&B chart in 1961. B-side: “I’m So Sorry”
MOTOWN 1011 (Source: Billboard Top R&B Singles)
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1964
REMINDER IS ISSUED BY MOTOWN; MARY WELLS STILL UNDER CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION TO MOTOWN
NEW YORK — Barney Ales, vice-president of Motown Record Corporation, last week announced that Mary Wells is still under contract to Motown. The label’s legal department has sent telegrams to record companies with the disclaimer who are believed to be negotiating with the artist, advising them of her contractual obligations to Motown, and with Motown only.
Ales stated that Berry Gordy, Jr., president of Motown was “surprised and hurt” when he learned that Miss Wells was “apparently receptive” to offers. Ales noted that Miss Wells had the top record of the country, “My Guy,” and has had the benefit of three-year promotional and sales campaign by the organization, all of which are reflective in her present status as an artist.
Ales, stating he is aware that many offers are proffered an artist who has had a top record, added that he would like to alert the industry to a group of young ladies called the Supremes, “who will have the next No. 1 record in the U.S., “Where Did Our Love Go?,” exclusively on Motown Records. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; July 18, 1964)
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1964
GREEN LIGHT GIVEN TO MARY WELLS; SIGNS WITH 20TH CENTURY
NEW YORK — George Scheck, head of Diversified Artists Corp., told Billboard that some radio programmers are still hesitant or reluctant about playing the first release on the Twentieth-Century Fox label by his client, Mary Wells. Scheck said that “some remember that a while back Motown Records had issued an alert concerning her contractual obligations with them and warned of possible litigation if they programmed material she might release on other labels.”
Scheck also stated, “Just to get the record straight, there has been a happy settlement arrangement made with Miss Wells, Motown Records and 20th Century Fox Records which makes it possible for her to record for the film company record division.” END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; November 7, 1964)
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Above article is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2018. Newspapers.com.
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