Robbed hit of the week 5/27/19 - Huey Lewis & The News' "(She's) Some Kind Of Wonderful"...

"(She's) Some Kind Of Wonderful" - Huey Lewis & The News
from the album Four Chords and Several Years Ago (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #44

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the pop-rock band Huey Lewis & The News, who were last seen as a Song of the Day for their cover of Curtis Mayfield's soul nugget "It's Alright" from a tribute album to Mayfield, which reached the top-40 of the pop airplay chart in the summer of 1993. The following year, after leaving EMI Records after just one album for the Elektra label, the group recorded an album of all remakes, Four Chords and Several Years Ago. The first single released from the project would be a obscure R&B record that is best known for its first revival as a rock remake in 1974. "(She's) Some Kind Of Wonderful", written by John Ellison, climbed to #3 on the American pop chart for the soul-rock band Grand Funk...

That record was so big I never realized as a child that it wasn't a bigger soul original redone by the group. Lewis' version cleans things up a bit, to the high-end wedding reception variety, but Lewis' distinct voice cuts through pretty decently...

While Huey and the News' take on "(She's) Some Kind of Wonderful" was a big hit on "easy listening" radio, climbing to #7 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary format chart, the single stopped just below the pop Top-40 in July of 1994. Internationally, the single climbed to #26 in Canada, and was a minor hit in both Germany (#51) and the UK (#84). The second single from the record, a cover of J. J. Jackson's "But It's Alright" (not to be confused with the aforementioned "It's Alright"), stopped at #54 on the American pop Hot 100, but got a little higher on the Adult Contemporary list at #5 (it peaked at #32 in Canada). Finally, their take on Thurston Harris' "Little Bitty Pretty One" went to #27 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

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"(She's) Some Kind of Wonderful" was recorded by many different music acts, with some having success though not to the degree that Grand Funk did. The Soul Brothers Six, which included songwriter John Ellison, released the song in 1967 and popped on to the pop chart at #91...