Sources
- Dahl, Bill (Feb 28, 2011). Motown: The Golden Years: More than 100 rare photographs. Krause Publications. ISBN 978-1-44022-783-7.
- Posner, Gerald (April 2, 2009). Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power. Random House LLC. ISBN 978-0-30753-862-8.
| "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Marvin Gaye | ||||
| from the album That Stubborn Kinda Fellow | ||||
| B-side | "It Hurts Me Too" | |||
| Released | July 23, 1962 | |||
| Recorded | June 29, 1962 | |||
| Studio | Hitsville USA, Detroit, Michigan | |||
| Genre | Soul | |||
| Length | 2:44 | |||
| Label | Tamla T 54068 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Marvin Gaye William "Mickey" Stevenson George Gordy | |||
| Producer(s) | William "Mickey" Stevenson | |||
| Marvin Gaye singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Stubborn Kind of Fellow" is a 1962 song recorded by Marvin Gaye for the Tamla label. Co-written by Gaye and produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" became Gaye's first hit single, reaching the top 10 of the R&B chart and the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1962.
By summer 1962, Marvin Gaye had recorded for Tamla Records, a subsidiary of Motown Enterprises, for a year with limited success. The previous summer, Gaye released his first LP, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye , an album of jazz and pop standards that failed to crack the charts. He had also released a total of three singles, all of which also failed to enter the Billboard charts. According to some within the label, he was considered "the least likely hit maker". [1] During 1961, Gaye had spent time on the road as a drummer for fellow Tamla act, The Miracles, and had also drummed for blues artist Jimmy Reed, earning $5 weekly. In early 1962, Gaye scored his first major success as a songwriter, composing music with producer Mickey Stevenson and George Gordy on The Marvelettes' top 40 hit, "Beechwood 4-5789".
Though he had initially wanted to avoid the rhythm and blues market, Gaye figured it was his only way to establish himself as a crossover pop act, and reluctantly agreed to record a song in that style. [1] Hiring Stevenson and Gordy, Gaye wrote and composed a song that fit his sometimes moody attitude, titling it "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" after Berry Gordy suggested some piano chord changes to Gaye. [2] In a 1982 interview conducted in Europe, Gaye recalled "Berry heard me playing it on the piano. He came over and he said something to the effect of, 'I like that melody but can you do something else with it.' That was my first power encounter with him. I remember he wanted me to change some chords. I had a brief argument with him as to why I thought it should remain the way I wrote it. In any event, I changed things his way." [3]
With Gaye singing in a husky, strong voice, the song's guitarist Dave Hamilton later stated, "You could hear the man screaming on that tune, you could tell he was hungry", further indicating Gaye's determination to succeed noting, "If you listen to that song you'll say, 'Hey man, he was trying to make it because he was on his last leg'." [1] The song included Martha Reeves on background vocals with several of her friends from a former group, the Del-Phis, including Rosalind Ashford, Gloria Williams and Annette Beard. Reeves, Ashford and Beard later formed Martha and the Vandellas at the end of the year.
Released as a single on July 23, 1962. Though Gaye was initially disappointed it didn't become a bigger pop hit, he was satisfied that he finally had a hit record. [1] The song and follow-up hit, "Hitch Hike", eventually gave Gaye top billing over other acts during the Motortown Revue performances of 1963.
Gaye performed the song constantly during his early years, most notably on the recorded performance of the Motortown Revue at the Apollo Theater in June 1963. Gaye performed it less frequently during the latter half of his career, often singing parts of the song as part of a "sixties medley" during his 1970s concert shows.
"Stubborn Kind of Fellow" was Gaye's first song to crack the Billboard Hot 100, eventually peaking at number 46. On the Hot R&B Sides chart, the song peaked at number 8.
| Chart (1962) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [4] | 46 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles [5] | 8 |
Martha and the Vandellas were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown.
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered.
Martha Rose Reeves is an American R&B and pop singer. She is best known for being the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas, which scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Come and Get These Memories", "Nowhere to Run", "Heat Wave", "Jimmy Mack", and their signature "Dancing in the Street". From 2005 until 2009, Reeves served as an elected councilwoman in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Reeves at number 151 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and became a hit again in 1970 when recorded by former Supremes frontwoman Diana Ross. The song became Ross's first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
"Hitch Hike" is a 1962 song by Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label. Another song Gaye co-wrote.
"Pride and Joy" is a 1963 single by Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label. The single, co-written by William "Mickey" Stevenson, Gaye and Norman Whitfield, and produced by Stevenson, was considered to be a tribute to Gaye's then-girlfriend, Anna Gordy. The album version of the single featured on Gaye's second album, That Stubborn Kinda Fellow is different in parts to the single version presenting a more jazz effect than the gospel-emulated version that became a single. The song was also Gaye's first top ten pop single peaking at number ten on the chart and just missed the top spot of the R&B singles chart peaking at number two. The song also helped continue Gaye's successful hit streak as the singer would score another Top 40 pop hit at the end of that year with "Can I Get a Witness".
William "Mickey" Stevenson is an American former songwriter and record producer for the Motown group of labels from the early days of Berry Gordy's company until 1967.
The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye is the debut studio album by Marvin Gaye, released in 1961, and the second long-playing album (TM-221) released by Motown. The first was Hi... We're the Miracles (TM-220). It is most notable as the album that caused the first known struggle of Gaye's turbulent tenure with the label.
That Stubborn Kinda Fellow is the second studio album by Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label in 1963. The second LP Gaye released on the label, it also produced his first batch of successful singles for the label and established Gaye as one of the label's first hit-making acts in its early years.
Marvin Gaye Recorded Live on Stage is the first live album released by singer Marvin Gaye on the Tamla label. Recorded during a Motortown Revue show at Chicago's Regal Theater, the album showcased the musician performing early hits such as "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", "Pride and Joy" and "Hitch Hike" while also adding in unreleased songs including "One of These Days", "Mo Jo Hanna" and That Stubborn Kinda Fellow album track, "Get My Hands on Some Lovin'" while also singing three covers - the jazz standard, "Days of Wine and Roses", blues song "Mo Jo Hanna" and his cover of Ray Charles' R&B version of "You Are My Sunshine".
Marvin Gaye at the Copa is a live album recorded at the exclusive New York club, the Copacabana, where singer Marvin Gaye performed in August 1966, over a year following The Supremes' 1965 performance there. Marvin was only one of just a few R&B musicians after Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson to perform at the club where performers such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra had performed at regularly. Marvin was the next act from Berry Gordy's fabled Motown label after the Supremes to perform at the nightclub and would be followed by The Temptations in 1968 and Martha and the Vandellas that same year. According to the liner notes later on, Marvin's performance there was a success, however, an ongoing feud between Gaye and his brother-in-law, Motown recording boss Gordy, was said to have been one of the reasons why the album was eventually shelved with the duo fighting over how the album was to be produced. The album had been scheduled for release in January 1967 as Tamla 273 before its permanent shelving. In 2005, Hip-O Select Records, a Motown-associated label created to re-release or release unreleased material from Motown's vaults re-mastered sessions from this album and released it that year.
Rosalind "Roz" Ashford-Holmes is an American soprano R&B and soul singer, known for her work as an original member of the Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas.
Greatest Hits is a 1964 greatest hits album, the first for American R&B-soul singer Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label. Released during Gaye's first period of success, it was also his first charted album as a solo artist after making his album chart debut with the Mary Wells duet album, Together, the same year.
Super Hits is a compilation album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released in 1970 by Motown's subsidiary Tamla Records and compiles Gaye's pop-R&B singles recorded from 1962 to 1969.
"Beechwood 4-5789" is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson and George Gordy. It was a 1962 hit single for the Motown girl group The Marvelettes on Motown's Tamla subsidiary record label. The song became a hit again when it was covered by the pop duo The Carpenters in 1982.
Annette Beard, also known as Annette Helton or Annette Sterling, is an American R&B and soul singer. Beard is best known for her work with Motown and as an original member of the singing group Martha and the Vandellas during the 1960s. Beard is currently known as a member of the singing group The Original Vandellas.
"Soldier's Plea" is a 1962 single released by singer Marvin Gaye as Tamla 54063, and was the last non-charted early single Marvin released prior to releasing his first hit single, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", later that year.
Paul Riser is an American trombonist and Motown musical arranger who was responsible for co-writing and arranging dozens of top ten hit records. His legacy as one of the "Funk Brothers" is similar to that of most of the other "Brothers", as his career has been overlooked and overshadowed by the stars of Motown that became household names. Some of the Funk Brothers he worked with include: Earl Van Dyke, Johnny Griffith, Robert White, Eddie Willis, Joe Messina, Dennis Coffey, Wah Wah Watson, James Jamerson, Bob Babbitt, Eddie Watkins, Richard "Pistol" Allen, Uriel Jones, Andrew Smith, Jack Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Benny Benjamin, Cornelius Grant, Joe Hunter, Richard "Popcorn" Wylie, Marcus Belgrave, Teddy Buckner and Stevie Wonder.
Richard Wayne Wylie, often known as Popcorn Wylie, was an American pianist, bandleader, songwriter, occasional singer, and record producer who was influential in the early years of Motown Records and was later known for his work on many records in the Northern soul genre.
