I love these Shindig! clips. The music and staging is always miles beyond what anyone else was doing with rock and pop on television at the time. The Blossoms- wow!!!!! Beautiful ladies, as well as Miss Wells!
Mary Wells clearly in top form in this post-Motown gem...newly released Import "Complete 20th Century Fox" collection show it had to be a ban that kept this awesome music off the airways...numerous songs like "Use Your Head", "Never, Never Leave Me", "Ain't It The Truth" and others from "Mary Wells" have that hit sound, clearly Mary Wells is deserving to be inducted in to "The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame", what are they waiting for?
Hey Bradly, sorry for not seeing this until many years later! I authored the liner notes for that 20th Century-Fox collection released on Soul Music Records. There was many quotes I could NOT use in the notes that did allude to shenanigans pulled by certain quarters within the industry to keep much of Mary's works off the radio. "Use Your Head" gained serious traction thanks in part to Mary's appearance on Shindig as well as few radio outlets that bucked "the powers that then wanted to be" at the time. Best, Kevin Goins
@@kevingoins9858 Wow interesting as a Mary fan knew back in the 60's what was going on they have to live with killing her career ultimately her, Mary continued making awesome albums to the end radio wouldn't play any of them, hope they are happy with their dirty deeds but Mary deserves Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction as first female Motown Superstar put them on the map making what happened to her all the more shameful and disgusting...always have been appalled
@@kevingoins9858 Think I found you on Facebook would be wonderful to be friends...not great at keeping up with these posts sorry took so long to find you fascinating informative post...
I finally got the studio version of this song on cd and it's good, but I wish 20th Century had a house band as tight as the Shindig band because this live version actually rocks even better!
Mary's only post-Motown top 40 pop hit (#13 R&B, #34 POP). Co-written by former Motown recording artist Barrett Strong, who was living in Chicago at the time. He moved back to Detroit in 1967 and hooked up with Norman Whitfield to co-write even more soul classics.
Mary Wells is a legend as far as I'm concerned. However, her greatest hits were very melodic, had great titles, and leaned more towards pop than soul music. Her star shone magnificently when she did such irresistible tunes as "Two Lovers", "You Beat Me to the Punch", and "My Guy", but nearly every time she did tunes like "Use Your Head" she failed to get a big hit. Her best track (in my opinion) post-Motown was "Ain't It the Truth", which nearly duplicated her Motown sound. With better promotion it would've done much better as it was a more than decent follow-up to "My Guy". An Atco single of Mary's called "The Doctor" is also cool as was "Dear Lover"; neither were huge hits. Unfortunately it was weak songs, mediocre production, and poor promotion that kept Mary's career from re- surging. Sadly, the man whispering in her ear should've been whispering "I love you" rather than giving her business advice. Given her later activism for cancer patients, I believe she also wanted to discourage young people from smoking as this is possibly what killed her at such a young age. However, she remains an amazingly beloved legend for all of the great hits she did give us and she still has legions of fans who adore and miss her.
Steven Kerry mary wells should've never smoked or drink,she wasn't an healthy child growing up, apparently she forgot, Me without you is better than all her motown hits.
You pretty much summed up all the issues with Mary's post-Motown career. I really liked this song and thought it was odd that it didn't hit much better on the charts. As it turns out, this Shindig! version is much better than the recorded version, which I heard some time after this one. I like the studio version, but there is just something missing, something in the band or delivery that isn't as tight as what Motown was putting out. I've hear the conspiracy theories about Motown holding Mary's releases down, but Motown was supposed to get a percentage of her 20th Century sales, so why sabotage that? I've been playing her 20th Century material and as you wrote, there are songs that are weak on melody or suffer from lackluster production. I'm growing to enjoy most of the songs, but I can hear how they could easily have gotten lost amongst stronger singles being released on the radio. Still, I give it to Mary that she makes 'em sound as good as they could have.
Too bad 20th Century Fox wasn't a major label at the time. They had earlier success in 1964 with Diane Renay's "Navy Blue" & "Kiss Me Sailor". "Use Your Head" barely landed in the Top 40. The label was losing steam and couldn't provide adequate promotion. Even though she had a solid hits reputation from her Motown days, the Mary Wells recordings for 20th Century Fox got overlooked.
Great video!! I remember this one from the old days on ABC's Shindig. A few months later in '65, she was on NBC's "Hullabaloo", introduced by host Paul Anka and sang "Never, Never Leave Me," , her 3rd recording on 20th Century-FOX,I wish someone out there also had that performance to post.
This makes you wonder what was going on with Mary's career after Motown. This is my first time hearing this, and how can you deny that this is Mary in top form? The song has not a wasted note at all, catchy AND soulful. Someone knew what they were doing here because it sounds like the perfect follow-up to "My Guy" even though it was recorded after she left Motown. I have to wonder if indeed Motown was putting some kind of pressure on radio to not play her songs. This is just too good.
Berry had a dark side he made sure that Florence Ballard did not get a lot of airplay when he dropped her from the Supremes and he sued Mary Wells for royalties (which wasn't much)because she broke her contract when she left Berry helped a lot of people but there were people he neglected or held back just ask Gladys Knight she'll tell you about how Gordy and Miss Ross held her back
Thanks so much for posting this. It gives me goosebumps! Believe or not, the first time I heard this song was yesterday while I was having lunch in diner. I used my iPhone SoundHound App. I held the phone up to the speaker mounted in the ceiling. One minute later I downloaded from iTunes. Where did you find this?
Very nice Motown sound although another label. Not to put Mary down in any way ... but my girl would often forget the lyrics (smile). God bless you Mary!
I love these Shindig! clips. The music and staging is always miles beyond what anyone else was doing with rock and pop on television at the time. The Blossoms- wow!!!!! Beautiful ladies, as well as Miss Wells!
Great video quality, for a change!
Mary was such a professional, you'd never know she flubbed the lyrics. She was the best there was
I totally agree with your statement. She recovered beautifully and went on with the song. The true mark of a professional!
Yes she is and was always this song out of all the songs I know this was it a"dear lover" was smooth to
My Mary Wells was the greatest soul singer that EVER WAS.
I FEEL THE SAME WAY!!
marvelous memories of marvelous mary wells!!!!
So ahead of it's time.
Great song, brilliant video. Thanks so much for sharing this with the world.
R.I.P. MARY WELLS - 13.05.1943 - 26.07.1992 - Shared on G+ May 13, 2016
That was awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love this woman...so good..so soft...sultry!
Mary just sounds amazing right here. Love her!
That's Darlene Love withe Blossoms in the background...
Mary Wells clearly in top form in this post-Motown gem...newly released Import "Complete 20th Century Fox" collection show it had to be a ban that kept this awesome music off the airways...numerous songs like "Use Your Head", "Never, Never Leave Me", "Ain't It The Truth" and others from "Mary Wells" have that hit sound, clearly Mary Wells is deserving to be inducted in to "The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame", what are they waiting for?
Hey Bradly, sorry for not seeing this until many years later! I authored the liner notes for that 20th Century-Fox collection released on Soul Music Records. There was many quotes I could NOT use in the notes that did allude to shenanigans pulled by certain quarters within the industry to keep much of Mary's works off the radio. "Use Your Head" gained serious traction thanks in part to Mary's appearance on Shindig as well as few radio outlets that bucked "the powers that then wanted to be" at the time.
Best,
Kevin Goins
@@kevingoins9858 Wow interesting as a Mary fan knew back in the 60's what was going on they have to live with killing her career ultimately her, Mary continued making awesome albums to the end radio wouldn't play any of them, hope they are happy with their dirty deeds but Mary deserves Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction as first female Motown Superstar put them on the map making what happened to her all the more shameful and disgusting...always have been appalled
@@kevingoins9858 Think I found you on Facebook would be wonderful to be friends...not great at keeping up with these posts sorry took so long to find you fascinating informative post...
I finally got the studio version of this song on cd and it's good, but I wish 20th Century had a house band as tight as the Shindig band because this live version actually rocks even better!
The musicians at 20th Century were very second rate Mary deserved better
Thanks for posting. Sweet Mary still as popular today as back in the past. What a voice!!
Mary's only post-Motown top 40 pop hit (#13 R&B, #34 POP). Co-written by former Motown recording artist Barrett Strong, who was living in Chicago at the time. He moved back to Detroit in 1967 and hooked up with Norman Whitfield to co-write even more soul classics.
I thought Dear lover made top 40.
Dear Lover was Pop # 51 and #6 R&B - still a nice hit!
If not my favorite song by her their many other choices this was super bad did you check those words
Pure class and talent. So beautiful. I love her. She's the best
Mary killed it.Darlene and Mary on the same stage wow.
THANKS FOR SHARING.........
Love it!
REAL MUSIC!!! OLDIES R FOREVER. . . WHAT HAPPEN 2 THIS WACKASS MUSIC NOWA DAYS?!?!?!
She didn't use her head when she left Motown
Wow just found this song and can't stop listening.
Mary E. Wells 1943- 1992
Fantastic! Can't believe I just found this.
She was a blessed singer 🙏 ❤
Awesome
Mary Wells is a legend as far as I'm concerned. However, her greatest hits were very melodic, had great titles, and leaned more towards pop than soul music. Her star shone magnificently when she did such irresistible tunes as "Two Lovers", "You Beat Me to the Punch", and "My Guy", but nearly every time she did tunes like "Use Your Head" she failed to get a big hit. Her best track (in my opinion) post-Motown was "Ain't It the Truth", which nearly duplicated her Motown sound. With better promotion it would've done much better as it was a more than decent follow-up to "My Guy". An Atco single of Mary's called "The Doctor" is also cool as was "Dear Lover"; neither were huge hits. Unfortunately it was weak songs, mediocre production, and poor promotion that kept Mary's career from re- surging. Sadly, the man whispering in her ear should've been whispering "I love you" rather than giving her business advice. Given her later activism for cancer patients, I believe she also wanted to discourage young people from smoking as this is possibly what killed her at such a young age. However, she remains an amazingly beloved legend for all of the great hits she did give us and she still has legions of fans who adore and miss her.
Steven Kerry mary wells should've never smoked or drink,she wasn't an healthy child growing up, apparently she forgot, Me without you is better than all her motown hits.
You pretty much summed up all the issues with Mary's post-Motown career. I really liked this song and thought it was odd that it didn't hit much better on the charts. As it turns out, this Shindig! version is much better than the recorded version, which I heard some time after this one. I like the studio version, but there is just something missing, something in the band or delivery that isn't as tight as what Motown was putting out.
I've hear the conspiracy theories about Motown holding Mary's releases down, but Motown was supposed to get a percentage of her 20th Century sales, so why sabotage that? I've been playing her 20th Century material and as you wrote, there are songs that are weak on melody or suffer from lackluster production. I'm growing to enjoy most of the songs, but I can hear how they could easily have gotten lost amongst stronger singles being released on the radio. Still, I give it to Mary that she makes 'em sound as good as they could have.
Perfect song and voice
classy woman, respect her background, Ross has no voice like Mary Wells, RIp honey. Classy woman
The Supremes have the EXACT same dresses.I thought that was interesting!!
You know how them girl groups do...stealing dresses off another groups dress rack.
Too bad 20th Century Fox wasn't a major label at the time. They had earlier success in 1964 with Diane Renay's "Navy Blue" & "Kiss Me Sailor". "Use Your Head" barely landed in the Top 40. The label was losing steam and couldn't provide adequate promotion. Even though she had a solid hits reputation from her Motown days, the Mary Wells recordings for 20th Century Fox got overlooked.
Great video!! I remember this one from the old days on ABC's Shindig. A few months later in '65, she was on NBC's "Hullabaloo", introduced by host Paul Anka and sang "Never, Never Leave Me," , her 3rd recording on 20th Century-FOX,I wish someone out there also had that performance to post.
There is, posted by ILMJXXX
I believe it was Jack Jones who introduced Mary Wells on Hulllabaloo when she sang Never Never Leave Me.
@@jackjules7552didn't Mary have one of the most sensual vocal deliveries of any female singer
RIP, you are beautiful and listening to you always cheers me up, I won't stop, you are not dead t me Mary
Fantastic.
Be honest, I didn't listen until I heard you passed, now I know what I was missing.
Mary W. could so totally turn a song into Something!!
Mary and Darlene on the same stage....how cool is that?!
This makes you wonder what was going on with Mary's career after Motown. This is my first time hearing this, and how can you deny that this is Mary in top form? The song has not a wasted note at all, catchy AND soulful. Someone knew what they were doing here because it sounds like the perfect follow-up to "My Guy" even though it was recorded after she left Motown. I have to wonder if indeed Motown was putting some kind of pressure on radio to not play her songs. This is just too good.
No compelling reason to believe Gordy would be so petty or could be powerful enough to really inhibit Well's career post-Motown.
@@kwahjuo Mr. Gordy didn't have to, Barney Ales VP at Motown had alot of connections & sway with radio & record distributors.
Berry had a dark side he made sure that Florence Ballard did not get a lot of airplay when he dropped her from the Supremes and he sued Mary Wells for royalties (which wasn't much)because she broke her contract when she left Berry helped a lot of people but there were people he neglected or held back just ask Gladys Knight she'll tell you about how Gordy and Miss Ross held her back
met her at a bar once in LA, nicest person
I hope you enjoyed life Mary
RIP you are sol beautiful
Thanks so much for posting this. It gives me goosebumps! Believe or not, the first time I heard this song was yesterday while I was having lunch in diner. I used my iPhone SoundHound App. I held the phone up to the speaker mounted in the ceiling. One minute later I downloaded from iTunes. Where did you find this?
Mary was on TV a lot after she left Motown.
Very nice Motown sound although another label. Not to put Mary down in any way ... but my girl would often forget the lyrics (smile). God bless you Mary!