"We Belong Together" is a 1958 American

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

written and recorded by

Robert & Johnny Robert & Johnny were an American doo-wop duo from The Bronx, composed of Robert Carr and Johnny Mitchell. Biography The duo released about a dozen singles for Old Town Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Two of them charted: "We Belo ...

, with a co-writing credit to

Hy Weiss Hyman Y. "Hy" Weiss (February 12, 1923 – March 20, 2007) was an American record producer of pop and rhythm and blues music in the 1950s and 1960s, and the founder of Old Town Records. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Cuca, Argeș County, ...

. It reached #12 on the R&B charts and #32 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.

Cover versions

The song was later recorded by several others.

The Fleetwoods The Fleetwoods were an American vocal group from Olympia, Washington whose members were Gary Troxel (born November 28, 1939), Gretchen Christopher (born February 29, 1940), and Barbara Ellis (born February 20, 1940). Early history The band mem ...

released a version on their 1959 album, ''Mr. Blue.'' A rendition by

Ritchie Valens Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed ...

was released in 1959 on the Del-Fi

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

and can be found on several of his albums. It is also featured in a scene from the 1987 hit film about Valens, '' La Bamba'' in which the song was sung by Los Lobos. The Belmonts released a remake on the Laurie label, Laurie 3080, in 1961, after they had split with Dion. It was not a hit, but was later reissued on a collector's label because of its musical value. In 1961, Jimmy Mullins, known as

Jimmy Velvit James Mullins (born January 11, 1941), better known as Jimmy Velvit, is an American rock and roll singer, who began his career in the 1960s. He is originally from Coalgate, Oklahoma, later from Dallas, Texas. He is best known for recording a ...

, recorded it in the

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

area. It was issued in January, 1962 on M-G-M's Cub Records label (K9105). It attracted a lot of attention and air-play and became the #1 song on the Dallas

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

, KLIF, for a period of six weeks. A different singer, Jimmy Tennant, using the name Jimmy Velvet, had a #75 hit with the song on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. Tennant had initially recorded and released the song on his own Velvet label (co-owned with Ray Curran) in April, 1963 (Velvet 201-63), using the same name Mullins was using, Jimmy Velvit. That same issue was briefly re-issued in August, 1963 on the Cortland label's Witch Records subsidiary (#115) in an effort to take the Velvet Records release to a national level. Tennant used another song from the session, "I'm Gonna Try" as the flip side of both releases, the same song the earlier Jimmy Velvit (Jimmy Mullins) had used on his 1962 Cub version. That song had been written by Mullins. The hit release (as by Jimmy Velvet) on ABC-Paramount 10488 used "History Of Love" (recorded at the same April session) as the flip side, which was first issued by November, 1963.Abc-paramount Records, Inc., Appellant, v. Topps Record Distributing Co., Inc.
Retrieved March 20, 2012.

Peaches & Herb Peaches & Herb is an American vocal duo. Herb Fame (born October 1, 1941) has remained a constant as "Herb" since the duo was created in 1966; seven different women have filled the role of "Peaches", most notably Francine Edna "Peaches" Hurd B ...

included the song on their album, ''Let's Fall In Love''.

Popular culture

The song was also used in the 1983

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

movie ''

Christine Christine may refer to: People * Christine (name), a female given name Film * ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei'' * ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on King's novel of the same name * ''Christine'' (1987 fil ...

'' based on the novel by Stephen King. In the 1997 film ''

Selena Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...

'', Abraham (Selena's father) sang this song to her as a little girl. In 2023, during the Series Finale of Riverdale, this song was used in the final scene when the main characters of the show reunited in heaven.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:We Belong Together (Robert and Johnny song) 1958 singles 1958 songs 1961 singles The Fleetwoods songs Jimmy Velvit songs Peaches & Herb songs American rhythm and blues songs Ritchie Valens songs Robert & Johnny songs Rock ballads