| "Baby, I'm for Real" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Originals | ||||
| from the album Green Grow the Lilacs | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | 1969, Hitsville USA (Studio A), Detroit, Michigan | |||
| Genre | Soul | |||
| Length | 3:22 | |||
| Label | Soul | |||
| Writer(s) | Marvin Gaye Anna Gordy Gaye |
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| Producer | Marvin Gaye | |||
| The Originals singles chronology | ||||
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"Baby, I'm for Real" is a soul ballad written by Marvin Gaye and Anna Gordy Gaye, produced by Marvin and recorded and released by American Motown vocal group The Originals for the Soul label issued in 1969.
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By the late sixties, male vocal quintet the Originals had been recording mostly background vocals for Motown artists most notably backing up brothers Jimmy Ruffin ("What Becomes of the Brokenhearted") and David Ruffin ("My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)") respectively. They also were as known for providing background vocals to some of Marvin Gaye's late sixties recordings such as "You" and "Chained". But their own singles up until then had failed to generate interest. Having befriended Gaye during recording sessions, the singer promised the group that he'll find them the hit they were searching for. With music written by his wife Anna, Marvin wrote the lyrics to what would be "Baby I'm For Real". Different from most Motown recordings of the period, directed by the psychedelic soul productions of Norman Whitfield, the song was a return to a back-to-basics doo-wop inspired approach which was championed by Gaye, who took creative control of the recording as the song's producer. The singer would also produce another song titled "You're the One". While that song failed to chart, he pushed ahead for "...Real". Gaye had protested to Motown CEO Berry Gordy that he wanted to produce his own material and he used the Originals to help get his point across that he can provide a hit as he eventually did for the Originals as "Baby I'm For Real" reached number one on the Billboard Top Black Singles chart and reached number fourteen on the Pop Singles chart,.[1] eventually selling over a million copies and putting the Originals on the map for a brief period as recording artists. The song's success paved the way for two more successful Gaye-helmed productions: 1970's similar "The Bells" and "We Can Make It".
Los Angeles-based R&B singer/balladeer Sherrick, released a version of the song on single, which peaked at #53 on Billboard's Hot R&B\Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. It was taken from his 1987 album entitled 'Sherrick' for Warner Bros. Records. On January 22, 1999, Sherrick died at the age of 41, of unknown causes in Los Angeles, California.[2]
In 1992, R&B group After 7 sought to revive this song while recording their Takin' My Time album. Issued as the first release off that album, they also covered parts of Bloodstone's "Natural High". The song returned to the upper reaches of the R&B charts some twenty-three years after it was first recorded, eventually peaking at number five.
| Preceded by "I Can't Get Next to You" by The Temptations |
Billboard's Best Selling Soul Singles number one single (The Originals version) November 8, 1969 - December 6, 1969 |
Succeeded by "Someday We'll Be Together" by Diana Ross & the Supremes |