"Mr. Lee" is a 1957 single by

The Bobbettes The Bobbettes were an American rhythm and blues, R&B girl group who had a 1957 Top 40, top 10 hit song called "Mr. Lee (song), Mr. Lee". The group initially existed from 1955 to 1974 and included Jannie Pought (1945–1980), Emma Pought (born 194 ...

. The song peaked at #1 on the

CHUM Chart The CHUM Chart was a ranking of top 30 (and, until August 1968, the top 50) songs on Toronto, Ontario radio station CHUM AM, from 1957 to 1986, and was the longest-running Top 40 chart in the world produced by an individual radio station. On Janua ...

in Canada and on national R&B charts in the United States in 1957. It was included in

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981).

Background

"Mr. Lee" was written about a schoolteacher members of the group had. Contrary to popular belief, the song was originally written not to ridicule but to describe their former teacher factually. Upon meeting executives from

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

, Atlantic had the lyrics of "Mr. Lee" changed to create a love song. Atlantic demanded the original lyric "ugliest teacher" to be changed to "handsomest teacher".

Recording

The Bobbettes recorded "Mr. Lee" during a recording session with Atlantic Records in 1957. Emma Pought and Reather Dixon shared the lead vocals on the recording. Emma Pought and Helen Gathers wrote three other songs during the session.

Composition

The music of "Mr. Lee" was built around a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

sequence and had Jesse Powell on tenor saxophone alongside

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...

music.

Chart performance

"Mr. Lee" was the first to simultaneously become a Top Ten hit single—peaking at #6 on pop charts from

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

, Cashbox and

Music Vendor ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wor ...

—and reach #1 on the R&B charts in the United States.

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

's cover peaked in the UK at #58 in 1988.

Legacy

In 1959, The Bobbettes recorded an

answer song An answer song, response song or answer record, is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...

to "Mr. Lee" called "I Shot Mr. Lee" with Atlantic Records. After Atlantic decided to shelve the song, The Bobbettes redid the song the following year with Triple-X Records. "I Shot Mr. Lee" peaked at #52 on

The Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in ...

. A lawsuit was later declared in July 1960 after Atlantic sued Triple-X for

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

. A ruling ordered the seizure of copies of the Triple-X recording. "Mr. Lee" was #79 on ''Billboards list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.

Certifications and awards

"Mr. Lee" sold 2 million copies and led The Bobbettes to be awarded with platinum records by Atlantic Records.

Popular culture

"Mr. Lee" was featured in the soundtrack for '' Stand By Me'' and included in the 1987 film '' The Big Town''. It also appeared in an episode of ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class African- ...

''. Claire (

Phylicia Rashad Phylicia Rashad ( ) (née Ayers-Allen; born June 19, 1948) is an American actress, singer and director who is dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University. She is best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby S ...

) and her high school friend (

Leslie Uggams Leslie Marian Uggams (born May 25, 1943) is an American actress and singer. Beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, Uggams is recognized for portraying Kizzy Reynolds in the television miniseries ''Roots'' (1977), earning Golden Glob ...

) put on wigs and danced around the room as they sang it. In the United Kingdom, the song was used in the

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

Saturday Morning TV Show ''

Ministry of Mayhem ''Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown'' (previously titled ''Ministry of Mayhem'' and ''MoM'') was a British children's entertainment programme, which was broadcast on ITV (later CITV) from 10 January 2004 to 1 July 2006. Overview ''Ministry ...

''. It was used as the theme song to introduce the character Mr Lee, who would deliver the

ringtone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...

s for the ''Name That Tone'' game. Mr. Lee was played by Vincent Wong. In 1985, it was used in the soundtrack of the Miami Vice episode, Golden Triangle-Part 2. DJ Frank E. Lee of

WXRT WXRT (93.1 FM), also known as XRT and 93-XRT is an adult album alternative (AAA) radio station in Chicago, Illinois. For many years, their slogan has been "Chicago's Finest Rock". "Chicago's Home For Music Lovers" has been used as its slogan si ...

in Chicago used "Mr. Lee" as his show intro.

Charts

The Bobbettes version

Diana Ross version

References

{{authority control 1957 debut singles Number-one singles in the United States Number-one singles in Canada 1957 songs