THERE GOES MY BABY (Diana Ross)
“There Goes My Baby” is a song written by Ben E. King (Benjamin Nelson), Lover Patterson, George Treadwell, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller, and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for The Drifters. This was the first single by the second incarnation of the Drifters; Leiber and Stoller used a radically different approach to production than Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler had employed with the original Clyde McPhatter-led Drifters. The combination of new style and new group fit, and the song reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard R&B chart and on the Cash Box sales chart for two weeks, in the summer of 1959. The Atlantic Records release was King’s debut recording as the lead singer of the group. The song was included in the musical revue Smokey Joe’s Cafe. (More from Wikipedia)
Early on, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Diana Ross shared lead-vocal duties on their recordings. Berry Gordy though was always impressed mainly with Diana Ross; from Wikipedia: “In Berry Gordy’s autobiography, To Be Loved, Gordy recalled he was heading to a business meeting when he heard Ross singing ‘There Goes My Baby’ and Ross’ voice ‘stopped me in my tracks’.”
(April 2015/1)
