May 16, 1964 - Hitting the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart today is “My Guy,” a Motown single performed by Mary Wells. It replaced Louis Armstrong’s “Hello, Dolly!” at No. 1.
Written and produced by Smokey Robinson of The Miracles, the song is about a woman’s rejection of a sexual advance and an affirmation of her fidelity to her boyfriend, who is her ideal and with whom she is happy, despite his ordinary looks.
Well’s first collaboration with Robinson, 1962’s “The One Who Really Loves You,” was her first hit, peaking at No. 2 on the R&B chart and No. 8 on the Hot 100. Motown released the similar sounding “You Beat Me to the Punch” a few months later. The song became her first R&B No. 1 single and peaked at No. 9 on the pop chart.
The success of “You Beat Me to the Punch” helped to make Wells the first Motown star to be nominated for a Grammy award when the song was nominated for Best Rock & Roll Recording in 1963.
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