Artist:The Contours
Song:Do You Love Me
Album:Ultimate Dirty Dancing
The Contours' Do You Love Me was one of Motown's earliest hits and the song was revived by the 1988 film Dirty Dancing. The Contours weren't as slick as subsequent Motown groups. The group started in Detroit in 1958 as The Blenders. Lead singer Billy Gordon was joined by Billy Hogg, Sylvester Potts, Joe Billingslea, Hubert Johnson and guitarist Huey Davis. The changed their name to The Contours and unsuccessfully auditioned for Motown owner Berry Gordy. Johnson was a cousin of Jackie Wilson and Wilson helped them with their act and convinced Gordy to sign them in 1961. Their first single tanked and Gordy was going to drop them when Wilson again convinced Gordy to give them another chance. Gordy had intended Do You Love Me for The Temptations but the song was too rough for them so he gave it to The Contours. The song was a #1 R & B hit and reached #3 on the pop charts in 1962. It was their one really big hit. The 1988 hit film Dirty Dancing had a lot of oldies on the soundtrack and Do You Love Me got a big boost from the film. The Ultimate Dirty Dancing is an expanded version of the original release. It has all the music that was in the film. RCA Europe released it in 2003 in conjunction with the DVD rerelease. RCA has recently released a 20th Anniversary edition that is the same as this version. Billingslea & Potts have toured the oldies circuit for years with a version of The Contours. Here are The Contours performing Do You Love Me at The Apollo in 1963. The sound goes out for about 30 seconds at about the three minute mark.
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