He's So Fine
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"He's So Fine" is a song written by Ronnie Mack. It was recorded by the Chiffons who topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for four weeks in the spring of
1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
. One of the most instantly recognizable golden oldies with its ''doo-lang doo-lang doo-lang'' background vocal, "He's So Fine" is also renowned as the song in the famous plagiarism case against
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
's " My Sweet Lord".
Country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singer Jody Miller scored a top-ten hit of her own in 1971 with her cover of "He's So Fine".


The Chiffons version


Background

"He's So Fine" was written by Ronald Mack, an acquaintance of the Chiffons' members who set himself up as their manager after overhearing them harmonise in their high school's lunch room. Mack elicited the interest of Bright Tunes Corporation, a production company run by
the Tokens The Tokens were an American doo-wop band (rock and pop), band and production of phonograph records, record production company group from Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York City. The group had four top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' H ...
, who produced the Chiffons singing "He's So Fine", and two other Mack compositions at Capitol Recording Studios (New York, 165 W. 46th St.). The Tokens themselves – who had never previously played on a recording session – provided the instrumentation, with the services of drummer Gary Chester. Originally one of the two other songs, "Oh, My Lover", was considered the potential hit. But the completed track for "He's So Fine" with its now-classic 'Doo-lang doo-lang doo-lang' background vocal – the suggestion of the session's sound engineer Johnny Cue – seemed an obvious smash. However Capitol Records, for whom the Tokens were house producers, rejected the track: Jay Siegal of the Tokens recalled Capitol's president Voyle Gilmore dismissing the track as "too trite...too simple". The Tokens shopped "He's So Fine" to ten labels before placing it with Laurie Records. According to Siegal, "We played it, and they locked the doors and said 'You're not getting out of here. We want that record.'...Of course we'd already been turned down by ten companies. Give us eighty cents and we'd have given you the record."Artie Wayne
"Hangin' in: Spectropop presents Hank Medress,"
Spectropop.com, 2006. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
The Chiffons' two later Top 10 hits both contain echoes of "He's So Fine", although neither song was written by Ronald Mack, who died soon after the Chiffons had recorded his song. " One Fine Day" was written by
Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...
and
Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits " Will You L ...
, and "Sweet Talking Guy" – in which the background vocalists sing "he's so fine" – was co-written by the co-founder of Laurie Records, Eliot Greenberg. "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons is also featured on the
soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...
of the 1979 film ''
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'', by the English band
The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...
.


Reception

Released in early 1963, "He's So Fine" entered the national charts in February 1963 attaining the No. 1 position on March 30 and remaining No. 1 for a four-week period. It also made it to No. 1 one on the soul singles chart. ''Billboard'' ranked the record as the No. 5 song of 1963. "He's So Fine" was also a No. 16 hit in the UK. ''Billboard'' named the song No. 73 on its list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.


Chart performance


"My Sweet Lord" plagiarism lawsuit

On February 10, 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corporation filed suit alleging that George Harrison had plagiarised "He's So Fine" in his then-current hit, "My Sweet Lord". The case did not go to trial until February 1976, after which the judge ruled in favor of Bright Tunes on the liability portion of the suit, determining that Harrison had committed "subconscious" plagiarism. The suit to determine damages was scheduled for November 1976 but delayed until February 1981, by which time
Allen Klein Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased pr ...
, Harrison's one-time manager, who had been his legal adviser in the first phase of the suit, had become the plaintiff by virtue of purchasing Bright Tunes. The final decision was that Harrison would purchase Bright Tunes from Klein for $587,000 — the amount Klein had paid for the corporation — and although litigation continued for at least ten more years, that decision was upheld. In 1975, the Chiffons recorded a version of "My Sweet Lord", attempting to capitalize on the publicity generated by the lawsuit. In 1976, Harrison released " This Song" in reaction to the plagiarism suit.


Jody Miller version


Background

Jody Miller had a Top Ten C&W hit with her remake of "He's So Fine" recorded in a February 17, 1971 session at the Columbia studio in Nashville and issued May 12, 1971 as the advance single from Miller's ''He's So Fine'' album, that album—released August 1971—being Miller's second full-length collaboration with producer Billy Sherrill. Miller's remake omits the original's 'doo lang' background vocal. Besides the title cut, the ''He's So Fine'' album featured Miller's remake of the 1965 Barbara Lewis hit " Baby I'm Yours": Miller's third Sherrill-produced album ''There's a Party Going On'' afforded Miller C&W hit remakes of the Ronettes' " Be My Baby" and the Teddy Bears' " To Know Him is to Love Him". Impressed by the 1968
Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a ...
hit " Stand by Your Man", Miller had contacted that track's producer Billy Sherrill in the hopes of reviving her own flagging recording career and after ''Look at Mine'', Miller's first album in Sherrill's charge, generated two Top Twenty C&W hits in 1970, Sherrill opted for a new musical direction for Miller who recalls: "He said I didn't phrase my words like a country singer, so we took some old, sexy pop songs and put in a little boppy steel guitar".


Reception

Miller's cover version of "He's So Fine" peaked at No. 5 C&W in July 1971, and crossed over to the Pop charts and also
Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...
charts with July 1971 peaks of No. 53 Pop and No. 2 Easy Listening, the latter stat representing Miller's alltime best chart showing. The song also peaked at number 28 in Australia. "He's So Fine" also afforded Miller a Top Ten C&W hit in Canada with a No. 3 peak, with the track reaching No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for Canada and crossing over to No. 46 on the Canadian Pop chart.


1978: Jane Olivor / Kristy McNichol remakes

In the spring of 1978 two disparate remakes of "He's So Fine" were released as singles with both singles eventually ranking on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Jane Olivor recorded the song as a ballad for her album ''Stay the Night'', producer Jason Darrow having wanted a "lighter song" for the album: Olivor had been initially unmoved by Darrow's endorsement of a slow version of "He's So Fine" – whose lyrics Olivor found vapid – but the singer saw the validity of her producer's suggestion after Darrow played Olivor the Chiffons' 45 rpm single at 331⁄3 rpm. Released as a single in April 1978, "He's So Fine" debuted on the Hot 100 dated 20 May 1978 becoming the second of Olivor's two Hot 100 entries and with its eventual peak of No. 77 becoming the more successful as Olivor's precedent Hot 100 single " Some Enchanted Evening" had peaked at No. 91 in 1976. (Olivor would " bubble under the Hot 100" chart in 1980 when her single "Don't Let Go of Me" peaked at No. 108.) "He's So Fine" would also afford Olivor her sole ranking on the ''Billboard''
Easy Listening chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary music, adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on ...
where its peak would be No. 21, also ranking in the Canadian singles chart with a No. 71 peak and rising as high as No. 3 on the Canadian Easy Listening chart. May 1978 saw the release of an attempted replication of the original "He's So Fine" credited to
Kristy Kristy is a female given name of Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now kno ...
and Jimmy McNichol although the track only featured the former, being credited to the duo to reflect its parent ''Kristy and Jimmy McNichol'' album which was produced by Philip Margo and Mitch Margo who – as members of the Tokens – had produced the Chiffons' original: three members of the Chiffons: Patricia Bennett, Barbara Lee, and Sylvia Peterson, sang back-up on the McNichol remake of "He's So Fine." Both the McNichol version of "He's So Fine" and that by Jane Olivor appeared in the ''
Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...
'' ranking of the singles at positions No. 101 to No. 150 as early as the chart dated 20 May 1978 although the McNichol take would not debut on the ''Record World'' ranking of the top 100 singles until that dated 5 August 1978 two weeks subsequent to the track's debut on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 dated 22 July 1978 (one week after the final Hot 100 appearance of the Jane Olivor take whose Hot 100 tenure ended as of the chart dated 15 July 1978): on the ''
Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' Top 100 the McNichol "He's So Fine" made its debut on the chart dated 30 July 1978. The McNichol "He's So Fine" peaked at No. 70 on the Hot 100. (The chart fortunes of both the Olivor and McNichol takes on "He's So Fine" varied widely, according to which of the three music trade periodicals is cited: ''Record World'' affords a peak of No. 87 to both the Oliver and McNichol versions, while according to ''Cash Box'', the Olivor take peaked at No. 67, McNicol's at No. 83.)


References


External links


Bob Shannon's Behind The Hits: Stories: He's So Fine
{{authority control 1962 songs 1963 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Doo-wop songs Jody Miller songs Laurie Records singles Songs written by Ronnie Mack The Angels (American group) songs The Chiffons songs