Do You Love Me

“Do You Love Me” began as a song Berry Gordy wrote in 1962 for the Temptations, with singer Paul Williams in mind. When Gordy went looking for the group, they were nowhere to be found. They had gone to watch the gospel groups the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Harmonizing Four, and the Swan Silvertones instead. The Contours happened to be at Hitsville USA that same day to record a different song, and Gordy asked them to try his new tune. The group had already lost two singles that failed to chart and were in danger of being dropped from the label, so they said yes without hesitation.

After several takes, the group sang it exactly the way Gordy wanted. The track was cut at Hitsville’s Studio A in June 1962. The backing musicians later became known as the Funk Brothers. They included Joe Hunter on piano, James Jamerson on bass, and Benny Benjamin on drums. Lead singer Billy Gordon’s raw vocals carried the song’s spoken intro. That intro name-checks two of the era’s biggest dance crazes, the Mashed Potato and the Twist.

“Do You Love Me” came out on the Gordy label on June 29, 1962, exactly 64 years before this post. It sold more than a million copies and spent three weeks at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 while topping the R&B chart for three weeks straight. The song became the first Motown recording to top the UK chart, though it took a 1963 cover by Brian Poole and the Tremeloes to get there. Contours singer Joe Billingslea said in a 2009 interview that the Temptations could never have pulled off the song the way Gordy wanted it sung.

In 1988, the song returned to the Hot 100 at No. 11 after Dirty Dancing put the original recording back on movie screens and radio playlists nationwide. “Do You Love Me” remains the Contours’ only Top 40 pop hit, but it reached the chart twice, a rare feat for a song that almost went to a different group entirely.