Songoftheday 2/12/16 - You broke my heart cause I couldn't dance, you didn't even want me around...

"Do You Love Me" - The Contours
from the albums More Dirty Dancing (1988) and Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance) (1962)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (three weeks in 1962), #11 (one week in 1988)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11 weeks (in 1962), 8 weeks (in 1988)

Today's song of the day comes from the hit movie Dirty Dancing, which became the surprise success of the year and its soundtrack had spun off three huge pop hits with Eric Carmen's "Hungry Eyes", star Patrick Swayze's "She's Like The Wind", and the #1 "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" from Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes. The album spent eighteen weeks at the top of the albums sales charts in Billboard magazine, and to wring even more money out of fans, a second soundtrack album More Dirty Dancing was issued, with more oldies from the 60s as well as some score and instrumental work from the movie. One of those songs was a track from the first album issued by Berry Gordy's Gordy record label, "Do You Love Me" from the Contours. Formed in Detroit, the vocal group's first success was the rousing party-ready single led by the growl of singer Billy Gordon. In 1962, the song climbed to #3 on the American pop chart, and topped Billboard's R&B chart. The raucous single found a new home in 1988 due to its exposure in the film...

On its second run, "Do You Love Me" climbed to just beneath the top ten in August of 1988, while also crossing over to #24 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or easy-listening) radio chart. The More Dirty Dancing soundtrack also went to #3 on the albums chart, selling over four million copies.

After "Do You Love Me", the band had a spattering of moderate R&B, with "Can You Do It" (a soundalike record to their first hit) almost reaching the pop top-40 at #41 in 1964.  In 1970, they reached the top-40 in the UK with their 1967 single "Just a Little Misunderstanding". In the US, their last R&B hit was "It's So Hard Being A Loser" (#35, 1967).

The group has continued with a flurry of personnel changes since, appearing in oldies shows.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


And here's the Contours on the Dirty Dancing tour in 1988...

...and from a Motown special in 2005...

...and finally, from its appearance in the Dirty Dancing movie, which was a crucial point in the script...

Up tomorrow: a veteran jazz-rock band needs romance sustenance.