Call Me (Tony Hatch song)
Encyclopedia
"Call Me" is a song composed by Tony Hatch
for Petula Clark
which became an easy listening
standard via a hit version by Chris Montez
.
"Call Me" first appeared as the title cut on a Petula Clark EP
released in 1965 by Vogue
in the UK
. "Call Me" and the three other tracks on the EP: "Heart", "Everything in the Garden" and "Stangers and Lovers" were released in the US as tracks on Clark's I Know A Place
album.
Also in 1965 Chris Montez
, who had scored the hit "Let's Dance
" in 1962 and subsequently dropped out of the music business, was invited to resume recording by A&M Records
' founder Herb Alpert
. Alpert was unhappy when Montez began recording for A&M in his previous Chicano rock
style and personally suggested Montez shift to easy listening
choosing "Call Me" as the song to be Montez's debut single on A&M. Released in November 1965, "Call Me" entered the Easy Listening Top 40
in Billboard
that December entering the Billboard Hot 100
in January 1966; that March "Call Me" peaked on the Easy Listening chart at #2 and on the Hot 100 at #22.
Montez's version of "Call Me" was released as a single in the UK on the Pye
label in January 1966 but failed to chart: "Call Me" was also a non-charting UK single release in 1966 for Lulu
.
Georgia Gibbs
recorded "Call Me" as the title cut for her final album released in 1966. Other versions of "Call Me" have been recorded by Shirley Bassey
, Vikki Carr
, Eliane Elias
, Astrud Gilberto
, Peggy Lee
, Trini Lopez
, Mimì Bertè [Mia Martini], the New Classic Singers, Frank Sinatra
, Nancy Sinatra
and Nancy Wilson
. In October 2007, as part of his album Romancing the '60s, Frankie Valli
also covered this song.
Instrumental recordings of "Call Me" are often used as background music in radio and television. In 1973 Bell Telephone
utilized the song "Call Me" as the company's advertising jingle
.
Tony Hatch
Anthony Peter "Tony" Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger and producer.-Early life and early career:...
for Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
which became an easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
standard via a hit version by Chris Montez
Chris Montez
Chris Montez , is an American singer.-Early life:Montez grew up in Hawthorne, California, influenced by the Latino-flavored music of his community and the success of Ritchie Valens....
.
"Call Me" first appeared as the title cut on a Petula Clark EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
released in 1965 by Vogue
Disques Vogue
Disques Vogue was founded in France in 1947, the same year that the USA Vogue closed shop. They originally specialized in jazz recordings, featuring such artists as Sidney Bechet, Django Reinhardt, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, and Errol Garner. In the late 1950s Vogue expanded into pop music,...
in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. "Call Me" and the three other tracks on the EP: "Heart", "Everything in the Garden" and "Stangers and Lovers" were released in the US as tracks on Clark's I Know A Place
I Know A Place (Petula Clark album)
I Know a Place is an album release by Petula Clark, which in the USA charted at #42. In the UK, the album was released as The New Petula Clark Album, a name which was dropped during later re-releases to prevent audiences from confusion.Arranged and produced by Tony Hatch, the album followed on the...
album.
Also in 1965 Chris Montez
Chris Montez
Chris Montez , is an American singer.-Early life:Montez grew up in Hawthorne, California, influenced by the Latino-flavored music of his community and the success of Ritchie Valens....
, who had scored the hit "Let's Dance
Let's Dance (Chris Montez song)
"Let's Dance" is rock band Slade's last single from 1988. The single was only released in the UK. The song was originally covered in 1985 and appeared on the Crackers – The Christmas Party Album the same year. The track was eventually released as a single after being dropped from RCA Records...
" in 1962 and subsequently dropped out of the music business, was invited to resume recording by A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
' founder Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert
Herbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...
. Alpert was unhappy when Montez began recording for A&M in his previous Chicano rock
Chicano rock
Chicano rock is rock music performed by Mexican American groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. Chicano Rock, to a great extent, does not refer to any single style or approach. Some of these groups do not sing in Spanish at all, or use many specifically Latin instruments or sounds...
style and personally suggested Montez shift to easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
choosing "Call Me" as the song to be Montez's debut single on A&M. Released in November 1965, "Call Me" entered the Easy Listening Top 40
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
in Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
that December entering the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in January 1966; that March "Call Me" peaked on the Easy Listening chart at #2 and on the Hot 100 at #22.
Montez's version of "Call Me" was released as a single in the UK on the Pye
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
label in January 1966 but failed to chart: "Call Me" was also a non-charting UK single release in 1966 for Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
.
Georgia Gibbs
Georgia Gibbs
Georgia Gibbs was an American popular singer and vocal entertainer rooted in jazz. Already singing publicly in her early teens, Gibbs first achieved acclaim in the mid-1950s interpreting songs originating with the black rhythm and blues community and later as a featured vocalist on a long list of...
recorded "Call Me" as the title cut for her final album released in 1966. Other versions of "Call Me" have been recorded by Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, Vikki Carr
Vikki Carr
Vikki Carr is an American singer and humanitarian from El Paso, Texas. She has performed in a variety of music genres, including jazz, pop and country, but has enjoyed her greatest success singing in Spanish.-Career:After taking the stage name 'Vikki Carr', she signed with Liberty Records in 1962...
, Eliane Elias
Eliane Elias
Eliane Elias is a Brazilian jazz pianist, arranger, vocalist and songwriter.-Biography:...
, Astrud Gilberto
Astrud Gilberto
Astrud Gilberto is a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer. She is well known for the Grammy Award-winning song "The Girl from Ipanema".-Biography:...
, Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
, Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez is an American singer, guitarist and actor.-Career:Lopez was born in Dallas, Texas, on Ashland Street in the Little Mexico neighborhood. He began his entertainment career in Dallas playing at the Vegas Club, a nightclub owned by Jack Ruby...
, Mimì Bertè [Mia Martini], the New Classic Singers, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
and Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson (singer)
Nancy Wilson is an American singer with more than 70 albums, and three Grammy Awards. She has been labeled a singer of blues, jazz, cabaret and pop; a "consummate actress"; and "the complete entertainer." The title she prefers, however, is song stylist...
. In October 2007, as part of his album Romancing the '60s, Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice...
also covered this song.
Instrumental recordings of "Call Me" are often used as background music in radio and television. In 1973 Bell Telephone
Bell System
The Bell System was the American Bell Telephone Company and then, subsequently, AT&T led system which provided telephone services to much of the United States and Canada from 1877 to 1984, at various times as a monopoly. In 1984, the company was broken up into separate companies, by a U.S...
utilized the song "Call Me" as the company's advertising jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
.