AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Barbara Lewis

Artist:Barbara Lewis

Song:Baby, I'm Yours

Album:Hello Stranger

The 1965 single Baby, I'm Yours was one of three memorable hits for R&B singer songwriter Barbara Lewis. She was born Feb. 9, 1943 in Salem, MI. She began to write songs at age nine. As a teen, she met Ollie McLaughlin who was a DJ at Ann Arbor radio station WHRV. He started out as a concert promoter for jazz musicians like Dave Brubeck and Chet Baker. But McLaughlin's breakthrough was producing hits like Runaway for Del Shannon. Then he started his own label Karen Records and Barbara was his first artist. When the single Hello Stranger had regional success in Michigan, Atlantic Records picked up the album for distribution and Hello Stranger reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Barbara wrote the song and McLaughlin produced. When follow up singles didn't do as well, Atlantic brought in Bert Berns to produce the 1966 single Baby, I'm Yours. Van McCoy wrote the song and wrote the arrangement. Barbara didn't like the song and gave a poor performance so Atlantic would leave it off the album. But McLaughlin convinced her to redo her vocal and that's the version that reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Barbara had one more hit with the 1965 single Make Me Your Baby. And then she faded. She left Atlantic and recorded a 1968 album on Stax's Enterprise label. This European comp seems to be the only Barbara Lewis comp available right now. She seemed to retire in the 70s. But after Yvonne Elliman charted with her 1977 cover of Hello Stranger, Casey Kasem tracked her down and got her to appear on TV. Barbara toured the oldies circuit until health issues forced her to retire in 2017. Here's Barbara Lewis performing Baby, I'm Yours on Hullaballoo 1965.