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Tune Lovers Unite Spreading the Motown love, one funky beat at a time! Join us for classic hits, trivia, and celebrating the artists who made soul music shine.

“Sexual Healing” was Marvin Gaye’s first single after leaving Motown, released by Columbia on October 9, 1982, from the ...
10/18/2026

“Sexual Healing” was Marvin Gaye’s first single after leaving Motown, released by Columbia on October 9, 1982, from the album Midnight Love. Marvin, Odell Brown and David Ritz are credited as writers. The song was conceived in Ostend, Belgium, where Marvin had moved. With Odell Brown and guitarist Gordon Banks, he built a reggae-inspired instrumental using a Roland TR-808 drum machine. It was recorded at Studio Katy in Ohain, Belgium, and Harvey Fuqua recorded the opening whispered chants.

It went to number one on the R&B chart in just four weeks and stayed there for ten weeks, and it reached number 3 on the Hot 100 in January 1983. It also reached number one in Canada and New Zealand and number 4 in the UK. It won two Grammy Awards in 1983, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Instrumental Performance, and sold over four million copies worldwide.
Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye 🎶 💖 The song is in the comment! 👇👇

“I Say a Little Prayer” was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick. Hal intended it to convey a woma...
10/18/2026

“I Say a Little Prayer” was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick. Hal intended it to convey a woman’s concern for her man serving in the Vietnam War. Dionne recorded it on April 9, 1966 in New York, and although Burt usually needed only a few takes with her, he did ten and still disliked the track, feeling it was rushed.

It stayed unreleased until September 1967, when it appeared on the album The Windows of the World, because Scepter owner Florence Greenberg wanted it added. Radio DJs started playing the album track that October, so Scepter released it as a single, backed with “(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls.” It reached number 4 on the Hot 100 in December 1967 and sold a million copies. It runs 3:09. Aretha Franklin’s version followed in 1968 and also reached the top ten.
Dionne Warwick - I Say A Little Prayer 🎶 💖 The song is in the comment! 👇👇

“Doggone Right” was written by Smokey Robinson, Marv Tarplin and Motown staff writer Al Cleveland, and Smokey produced i...
10/17/2026

“Doggone Right” was written by Smokey Robinson, Marv Tarplin and Motown staff writer Al Cleveland, and Smokey produced it. Tamla released it on May 28, 1969 as the A-side of a double-sided single with “Here I Go Again,” from the album Time Out for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. It runs 2:56.

Smokey sings the main lead, with bass singer Pete Moore echoing the title phrase. It reached number 32 on the Hot 100 and number 7 on the R&B chart, and both sides of the record charted in the Hot 100’s top 40. The Miracles premiered it on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, their second appearance on the program.
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Doggone Right 🎶 💖 The song is in the comment! 👇👇

On May 5, 1968, The Ed Sullivan Show devoted an episode to Irving Berlin’s 80th birthday, and Diana Ross & the Supremes ...
10/17/2026

On May 5, 1968, The Ed Sullivan Show devoted an episode to Irving Berlin’s 80th birthday, and Diana Ross & the Supremes joined Ethel Merman for an Irving Berlin medley. The songs listed for it include “Say It with Music,” “It’s a Lovely Day Today,” “Heat Wave” and “Say It Isn’t So.” The Supremes also sang “Always” on that show.

Other guests included Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Harry James and Robert Goulet. President Lyndon Johnson sent birthday wishes on tape, and the show finished with Irving Berlin himself singing “God Bless America” on stage with scouts. Ed Sullivan’s musical director Bob Arthur is said to have encouraged Diana Ross to sing classics, not only pop hits.
Diana Ross & The Supremes with Ethel Merman - Irving Berlin Songs Medley 🎶 💖 The song is in the comment! 👇👇

“Take This Heart of Mine” was written by three members of the Miracles, Pete Moore, Smokey Robinson and Marv Tarplin, an...
10/16/2026

“Take This Heart of Mine” was written by three members of the Miracles, Pete Moore, Smokey Robinson and Marv Tarplin, and Smokey produced it. Tamla released it on May 5, 1966, as a single from the album Moods of Marvin Gaye. The Andantes sang background, Marv Tarplin played guitar and the Funk Brothers supplied the rest. It runs 2:47, and Billboard called it an exceptional dance-beat tune with a solid Detroit sound.

It reached number 44 on the Hot 100 and number 10 on the R&B chart, the album’s fourth consecutive R&B top ten hit. In 1966, Marvin sang it on his only appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Marvin Gaye - Take This Heart Of Mine 🎶 💖 The song is in the comment! 👇👇

On March 24, 1968, Diana Ross & the Supremes performed a medley on The Ed Sullivan Show that combined “That Piano Playin...
10/16/2026

On March 24, 1968, Diana Ross & the Supremes performed a medley on The Ed Sullivan Show that combined “That Piano Playing Man,” “Honeysuckle Rose” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” The live recording of that medley runs about 4:14.

It was a different side of the group from the Holland-Dozier-Holland hits they were known for at the time, showing them in a nightclub, standards-style mood on one of America’s biggest TV stages.
Diana Ross & The Supremes - That Piano Playing Man 🎶 💖 The song is in the comment! 👇👇

Long before the Motown hits, the Four Tops were a young vocal group trying to break through. A 1999 collection called Lo...
10/15/2026

Long before the Motown hits, the Four Tops were a young vocal group trying to break through. A 1999 collection called Lost and Found: Four Tops “Breaking Through” (1963-1964) gathers recordings from that early period, and among them is “Nice ’n’ Easy,” listed as the 1999 Lost and Found version and running 2:57.

The same album also features other standards the group sang in those years, including “This Can’t Be Love,” “On the Street Where You Live” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” It gives fans a rare look at the Four Tops before the world knew their sound.
Four Tops - Nice 'n' Easy 🎶 💖 The song is in the comment! 👇👇

“I’ve Passed This Way Before” was the follow-up to Jimmy Ruffin’s biggest hit, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.” Jame...
10/15/2026

“I’ve Passed This Way Before” was the follow-up to Jimmy Ruffin’s biggest hit, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.” James Dean and William Weatherspoon wrote and produced it, and both had served in the military with Jimmy. The recording began in September 1966 and stretched over no fewer than eight sessions.

It was released in November 1966 on Motown’s Soul label, from the album Jimmy Ruffin Sings Top Ten, with “Tomorrow’s Tears” on the B-side. The single debuted on the Hot 100 on December 3, 1966 and peaked at number 17, and it reached number 29 in the UK in February 1967. Like its predecessor, it cast Jimmy as the lonely loser in love.
Jimmy Ruffin - Passed This Way Before 🎶 💖 The song is in the comment! 👇👇

“It’s Wonderful (To Be Loved by You)” was written and produced by James Dean and William Weatherspoon, and Jimmy Ruffin ...
10/14/2026

“It’s Wonderful (To Be Loved by You)” was written and produced by James Dean and William Weatherspoon, and Jimmy Ruffin recorded it in January 1968 at Hitsville U.S.A. It was released on October 2, 1970 on Tamla Motown, taken from his 1969 album Ruff’n Ready, and it runs 2:43. The B-side, “Maria (You Were the Only One),” was later covered by Michael Jackson on his debut solo album Got to Be There.

The single was not released in the US, where Jimmy had faded from the spotlight after “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” in 1966. In the UK, though, it reached number 6, higher than his earlier UK hits “Farewell Is a Lonely Sound” and “I’ll Say Forever My Love.” Even so, Motown showed little interest, and Jimmy eventually left the label and moved to the UK.
Jimmy Ruffin - It's Wonderful 🎶 💖 The song is in the comment! 👇👇

On February 2, 1969, the Temptations performed “The Best Things in Life Are Free” live on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was a...
10/14/2026

On February 2, 1969, the Temptations performed “The Best Things in Life Are Free” live on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was a surprise choice from a group famous for Motown soul, because the song is a pop standard from 1927. Ray Henderson wrote the music, with lyrics by Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown, for the Broadway musical Good News.

The Temptations had already shown how wide their range was, and this television performance is a reminder that they could bring their harmonies to the Great American Songbook as well.
🎶 The Temptations - The Best Things In Life Are Free💔 🎵 The song is in the comment! 👇

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