Brenda Holloway (born June 26, 1946) is an American singer and songwriter, who was a recording artist for Motown Records during the 1960s. Her best-known recordings are the soul hits, “Every Little Bit Hurts”, “When I’m Gone”, and “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”. The latter, which she co-wrote, was later widely popularized when it became a Top Ten hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears. She left Motown after four years, at the age of 22, and largely retired from the music industry until the 1990s, after her recordings had become popular on the British “Northern soul” scene. (More from Wikipedia)
Like The Archie Show before them, the band from Josie and the Pussycats released an album in December 1970; unlike the Archies though (who are shown only as cartoons), the actual performers are shown on the cover of the Josie and the Pussycats album, Josie and the Pussycats: Cathy Douglas, Patrice Holloway and Cherie Moor. Patrice Holloway had previously co-written a song called “You Made Me So Very Happy” with her sister Brenda Holloway along with Motown record producer Frank Wilson and their founder Berry Gordy. Brenda Holloway released this song on Tamla Records in 1967, and “You Made Me So Very Happy” became a major hit for Blood, Sweat and Tears in 1969.
(November 2013)
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Among Smokey Robinson’s own hit songs that were also his compositions (at least as a co-writer, and usually also as the song’s producer) are classics like “Shop Around” – Motown’s first million-selling hit record – plus “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me”, “I Second That Emotion”, “Ooo Baby Baby”, “Going to a Go-Go”, “The Tracks of My Tears”, and “Tears of a Clown”. Smokey Robinson also wrote or co-wrote (as outlined in Wikipedia) “Two Lovers”, “The One Who Really Loves You”, “You Beat Me to the Punch”, and “My Guy” for Mary Wells; “The Way You Do The Things You Do”, “My Girl”, “Since I Lost My Baby”, and “Get Ready” for the Temptations; “When I’m Gone” and “Operator” for Brenda Holloway; “Don’t Mess With Bill”, “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game”, and “My Baby Must Be a Magician” for the Marvelettes; and “I’ll Be Doggone” and “Ain’t That Peculiar” for Marvin Gaye.
(April 2015/1)
