Robbed Hit of the Week 4/22/13 - Klique's "Stop Doggin' Me Around"...

Klique - "Stop Doggin' Me Around"
from the album Try It Out (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #50

This week's "robbed hit" is by the lite-funk trio Klique, who were led by Californian Howard Huntsberry, and released their debut album in 1981, which produced their first R&B top-40 hit, "Love's Dance" (#24). Two years later, on their third album, the group got their biggest hit, a remake of a Jackie Wilson hit from 1960, "Doggin' Around". The original made it to #15 on the pop chart and topped the R&B list...

Howard recreated the soaring vocals quite nicely, enough to eventually get him cast as the singer in the movie La Bamba in 1987...

Klique's cover, retitled as "Stop Doggin' Me Around", went all the way to #2 on the soul chart, but stalled at #50 on the Hot 100. With the British New Wave in full swing, I'm sure this would've been a much bigger pop hit had it been released in 1982 rather than a year later.

The trio went on to have a couple more R&B hits, including one more top-20 single with "A Woman, A Lover, A Friend" (another Wilson remake) in 1985. However, after that, Klique disbanded, with Hunstberry releasing a solo set after his movie role, scoring a #11 R&B hit with "Sleepless Weekend" in 1988.