大象传媒

The group that gave Motown one of its earliest and most enduring hits. By Bob Stanley

Do You Love Me was little more than a dance craze cash-in, the big pop trend of 1962, name-checking the mashed potato and the twist and yet it was strong enough that covers by the Dave Clark Five and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes (a UK number one) both charted a year later. The Contours only UK chart placing came in 1970 with Just a Little Misunderstanding, originally issued in 1966 but reissued thanks to northern soul club plays.

Volatile sextet the Contours gave Motown one of its earliest and most enduring American number one hits, the Berry Gordy-penned Do You Love Me, in 1962. It was released on the black and white-striped Oriole American label in Britain, thanks to A&R man John Schroeder who was the first industry character to really recognise Motown's potential. Unfortunately for him, none of Oriole's nineteen Motown releases - including Little Stevie Wonder's Fingertips, another US number one, Mary Wells' Two Lovers and the Miracles' You Really Got a Hold On Me - even made the Top 50.

By the time it was recorded, the Do You Love Me line-up had imploded, with Joe Billingslea, Hubert Johnson, Billy Hoggs and the hit's lead singer Billy Gordon all gone. Surviving members Sylvester Potts and Huey Davies found replacements in Joe Stubbs (brother of the ' Levi), Jerry Green (formerly of Detroit doo wop act the Falcons, where his he had been replaced by ) and the intriguingly named Council Gay, who co-wrote Mamie Galore's northern classic It Ain't Necessary.

The powerful Joe Stubbs only stayed for one single, but what a cracker! Co-written by Stevie Wonder, Just a Little Misunderstanding had a hint of his recent hit Uptight (Everything's Alright), a delicious piano intro, and was propelled by a fantastic bassline from James Jamerson. Had it been more successful, Misunderstanding would have been included on the Contours album It's So Hard Being A Loser, but it flopped, the album was shelved, and Joe Stubbs left to join fellow Motown act the Originals.

Stubbs was replaced in 1966 by Dennis Edwards, who in 1967 was poached by the as a replacement for David Ruffin, at which point the Contours finally expired. After stints as a shop steward for United Automobile Workers and then as a sergeant in Detroit's Correctional Department, the lure of the oldies circuit caused founder member Joe Billingslea to put a new Contours together in 1971 - and he never looked back. Now 78 years old, he's still out there singing Do You Love Me with his ever-changing line-up of bandmates.