Artists are fragile creatures, human-shaped dichotomies, built from a bundle of insecurities and held together by thin strands of ego. For a canny producer, that means they’re akin to articulated dolls…..easy to manipulate. Pull the strings, puppet-masters!

Barbara Lewis was a precocious kid. She grew up just outside of Detroit and began writing her own songs as a teen in the early 60’s. Impressed by her abilities, local DJ/producer/talent scout Ollie McLaughlin (he who discovered Del Shannon and convinced him to record “Runaway”) signed Barbara up and got her a distribution deal through Atlantic Records. She immediately notched a Top 5 single with the self-penned “Hello Stranger” in 1963.

Despite the display of talent, Lewis had no chance to show it again. Producers at the time didn’t trust singers to write their own songs, even after scoring big hits. Instead, they were always on the lookout for material, endlessly listening to submitted demos or hitting up music publishing houses to sift through the pyrite in hopes of finding that pure gold. In this case, McLaughlin didn’t have to work too hard, because Van “Ten Years From Now I’m Going To Hit #1 With The Hustle” McCoy wrote a song specifically for Barbara Lewis to sing.

Unfortunately, she didn’t like it. It partly came down to the song itself, but also because she thought McCoy’s vocal was too good and she couldn’t live up to it.

So Lewis resorted to sabotage. When recording began in New York she made half-hearted attempts in the studio, hoping that Atlantic would be disappointed in the results and leave the song unreleased. And she almost succeeded. At the end of the session they still hadn’t captured a usable take. But she didn’t count on Ollie McLaughlin’s persistence.

McLaughlin arranged for another recording session in Detroit, solely to focus on the vocals, and again Lewis didn’t put her all into the performance. Growing impatient, her producer decided he needed to produce, so he took her aside and said, “Barbara, my daughter Karen can sing this better than you.” Karen was about 5 years old at the time. It was a simple and obvious psychological ploy, but apparently that’s what the situation called for because it worked like a charm. Lewis got mad and the very next take ended up as the single.

Released in early 1965, “Baby, I’m Yours” just missed the Top 10 but remains one of Barbara’s signature songs. She had a few more minor hits in the 60’s before leaving the rat race and retiring back to Michigan in the 70’s. Ollie McLaughlin produced those minor hits, but never made her that mad again.

So wait until the stars fall from the sky … with Barbara Lewis