Pop Music
In 1963, Lenny Welch’s version of this wonderful pop and jazz standard went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by blues pianist and bandleader Buddy Johnson in 1945 and recorded by dozens of artists, including Ella Johnson with Buddy Johnson and his Orchestra. Other covers were by Eartha Kitt, The Harptones, Dinah Washington, Doris Day, Ramsey Lewis, The Rascals, Barbra Streisand, Bonnie Raitt, Count Basie & Joe Turner, Tom Waits, Al Jarreau, Johnny Mathis, Natalie Cole and Reba McEntire, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Glen Campbell, and many, many more. Welch’s version was the biggest hit.
Welch was born Leon Welch in Asbury Park, New Jersey. At the age of 19, Archie Blyer, who had been the conductor for the Arthur Godfrey Show signed Welch to Cadence records. And this began a very successful international singing career. Welch also had hits with “You Don’t Know Me,” “Ebb Tide,” Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” and “Two Different Worlds.”
