Stubborn Kind of Fellow
Encyclopedia
"Stubborn Kind of Fellow" is a 1962 single by Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

, released on the Motown
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...

 subsidiary Tamla. The single was historic in many ways for the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

-bred singer and former Moonglows
The Moonglows
The Moonglows were an American R&B and doo-wop group based in Cleveland, Ohio.-Early years:Originally formed in their native Louisville, Kentucky as the Crazy Sounds, the group moved to Cleveland, where disc jockey Alan Freed renamed them 'the Moonglows'...

 member, for it was the first major hit record for the singer on Motown after three failed singles and an album that had Gaye performing jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 standards.

The song was conceived after Gaye reluctantly agreed to perform in the same R&B-rooted productions of his fellow Motown label mates rather than try to be "the Black 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...

". Based on an autobiographical account of Gaye's moody behavior, it was also penned (alongside William "Mickey" Stevenson) during the time Gaye had just married Anna Gordy
Anna Gordy Gaye
Anna Gordy Gaye is an American songwriter and composer, known as the elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy and the first wife of soul legend Marvin Gaye, who used their troubled marriage as the focal point of his critically acclaimed 1978 effort, Here, My Dear, an album from which Gordy...

, the sister of Motown head Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...

.

Released in September of that year, the song gave Gaye his first taste of fame that would make him Motown's leading hit maker peaking at number eight on the 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...

Black Singles chart
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 and number forty-six on the Billboard Pop Singles chart
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...

 and was the leading single off Gaye's second album, the aptly titled That Stubborn Kinda Fellow
That Stubborn Kinda Fellow
That Stubborn Kinda Fellow is an album by Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label in 1962. The LP yielded several hit singles including "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", "Hitch Hike" and "Pride and Joy" and helped to establish Marvin as a rising star on the R&B music scene.An unreleased single, "Wherever...

. This was also the first single to include recently signed girl group Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963–1967...

, who would accompany Gaye on his first three hit singles before finding fame on their own.

When Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....

 first heard Stubborn Kind of Fellow he was so excited he lost control of his car while driving down Sunset Boulevard with Jack Nitzsche
Jack Nitzsche
Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an arranger, producer, songwriter, and film score composer. He first came to prominence in the late 1950s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and others...

.

Personnel

  • Lead vocals by Marvin Gaye
    Marvin Gaye
    Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

  • Drums and piano by Marvin Gaye
    Marvin Gaye
    Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

  • Background vocals by The Del-Phis
    Martha and the Vandellas
    Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963–1967...

    : Martha Reeves
    Martha Reeves
    Martha Rose Reeves is an American R&B and Pop singer and former politician, and was the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. During her tenure with The Vandellas, they scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Jimmy Mack", "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run"...

    , Rosalind Ashford
    Rosalind Ashford
    Rosalind "Roz" Ashford-Holmes is an American soprano R&B and soul singer, famed for her work as member of the popular Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas.-Early years:...

    , Gloria Williams
    Gloria Williams
    Gloria Williams was an American singer notable for being the original lead singer of an early incarnation of Martha and the Vandellas under the name, The Del-Phis....

     and Annette Beard
  • Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
    The Funk Brothers
    The Funk Brothers was the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972...

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