"Dear Lover" is a song produced by respected Chicago producer Carl Davis, and written by Davis, along with Gerald Sims [1] It was released as a single by R&B singer Mary Wells, released off her album, The Two Sides of Mary Wells, on the Atco label. Davis was working for the OKeh imprint of Columbia Records at the time, and was moonlighting to record Mary Wells, whom he was dating. The upshot, was he was fired from OKeh.

"Dear Lover"
Single by Mary Wells
from the album The Two Sides of Mary Wells
Released1965
Recorded1965
GenreSoul
Length2:08
LabelAtco
Songwriter(s)Carl Davis, Gerald Sims
Producer(s)Carl Davis
Mary Wells singles chronology
"Me Without You"
(1965)
"Dear Lover"
(1965)
"Can't You See (You're Losing Me)"
(1966)

Background

edit

"Dear Lover" returned Wells to the R&B top ten two years after her two Marvin Gaye singles entered the Cashbox R&B top five and three years after her Motown single, "You Lost the Sweetest Boy", peaked at number ten.[2][3]

The song was Wells' last R&B top ten of her entire career, though she still had a succession of R&B hits throughout the remainder of her career.

Chart positions

edit
Chart (1965) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[4] 51
U.S. Billboard Top Selling Rhythm & Blues Singles[5] 6

References

edit
  1. ^ "Mary Wells – Dear Lover / Can't You See (You're Losing Me) (1965, Vinyl)". Discogs.com. December 1965. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  2. ^ Allmusic review
  3. ^ Dear Lover at Discogs
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 904.
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 617.