Tell Him
Encyclopedia
"Tell Him" is the name of a song written by Bert Berns
that was first recorded as "Tell Her" in 1962 by Gil Hamilton aka Johnny Thunder
with Berns producing. "Tell Her" was also a single for Ed Townsend
before Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
produced the version by the Exciters
released — as "Tell Him" — in October of 1962. "Tell Him" reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100
dated 26 January 1963
. A #5 R&B
hit, "Tell Him" was #1 in France
for two weeks and reached #5 in Australia
.
In the UK
the single peaked at #46 bested by a cover by Billie Davis
, who took the song to #10. Another UK cover version by Alma Cogan
did not chart in the UK but reached #53 in France, whilst the Exciters version reached #1 there.
Dusty Springfield
was on a stop-over in New York City en route to Nashville to make a country music album with The Springfields
in 1962, when she heard the Exciters' "Tell Him" playing while taking a late night walk by the Colony Record Store on Broadway: the experience decided Springfield to embark on a solo career with a Pop/Soul direction. She'd recall: "The Exciters sort of got you by the throat...out of the blue comes blasting at you “I know something about love”, and that’s it. That’s what I wanna do."
"Tell Him" had its highest UK charting — #6 — via a 1974 remake by Hello
whose producer Mike Leander
had cut an earlier version with the Glitter Band
which he felt could be improved upon. Hello's "Tell Him" also hit #32 in Germany.http://www.alexgitlin.com/hello.html. "Tell Him" would return to the UK charts in 1996 when Caroline Quentin
and Leslie Ash
who co-starred in the series Men Behaving Badly
hit #25 with their remake credited to Quentin and Ash.
In the US "Tell Him" has reappeared on the Hot 100 twice both times as "Tell Her": in 1966 by Dean Parrish
(#97) and in 1989 by Kenny Loggins
(#76).
"Tell Him" has also been recorded by Sonny and Cher, Josie Cotton
and Vonda Sheppard, whose version was heavily featured on the show Ally McBeal
.
Covered in 1963 as "Dis-lui" (literally "Tell Him") by French pop singer Claude François
, reaching No.1 in French chart.
The female regulars the TV show Living Single
performed a comic version of this song.
Linda Ronstadt
recorded a cover for her album "Get Closer
" (1982).
Alvin and the Chipmunks
and The Chipettes
covered the song for their 1984 television special "I Love the Chipmunks Valentine Special."
In 1984 in Bulgaria, Rositsa Kirilova, in collaboration with the Brothers Argirovi, recorded a disco version of "Tell Him" titled “Избрах нарочно вас” (I've Chosen You Intentionally). The track - whose Bulgarian lyrics are unconnected to the original English version - became a major dance floor hit.
In American Dreams
, Nicole Richie
portrayed Brenda Reid, the lead singer of the girl group
The Exciters
, and sang "Tell Him" in the show.
In 2009, The Exciters' "Tell Him" was included on the soundtrack for the DreamWorks Animation
film Monsters vs. Aliens
.
In 2011, the television series Glee
featured "Tell Him" in the episode "Silly Love Songs
".
Also in 2011, a parody of "Tell Him" was performed on Saturday Night Live
in a malt shop setting.
Bert Berns
Bertrand Russell Berns , most commonly known as Bert Berns as well as Bert Russell and Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s...
that was first recorded as "Tell Her" in 1962 by Gil Hamilton aka Johnny Thunder
Johnny Thunder (singer)
Johnny Thunder is the professional stage name of Gil Hamilton . He is an American R&B and pop singer, whose biggest hit was "Loop De Loop" in 1963.-Life and career:...
with Berns producing. "Tell Her" was also a single for Ed Townsend
Ed Townsend
Edward Benjamin 'Ed' Townsend was an American attorney, songwriter, and producer. He was best known for performing his composition, "For Your Love," a rhythm and blues doo wop classic, and as the co-writer of "Let's Get It On" with Marvin Gaye.-Biography:Although he was born in Fayetteville,...
before Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
produced the version by the Exciters
The Exciters
The Exciters were an American pop music group of the 1960s. They were originally a girl group, although a male member was added later. The group consisted of lead singer Brenda Reid, her husband Herb Rooney, Carolyn Johnson and Lillian Walker....
released — as "Tell Him" — in October of 1962. "Tell Him" reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
dated 26 January 1963
1963 in music
-Events:*January 1 – The Beatles start a 5-day tour in Scotland to support the release of their new single, "Love Me Do".*January 4 – At Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, Dalida receives a Juke Box Global Oscar for the year's most-played artist on juke boxes....
. A #5 R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
hit, "Tell Him" was #1 in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
for two weeks and reached #5 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
In the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
the single peaked at #46 bested by a cover by Billie Davis
Billie Davis
Billie Davis is an English female singer who had hits in the 1960s, and is best remembered for the UK hit version of the song, "Tell Him" and "I Want You to Be My Baby" ....
, who took the song to #10. Another UK cover version by Alma Cogan
Alma Cogan
Alma Cogan was an English singer of traditional pop music in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed "The Girl With the Laugh/Giggle/Chuckle In Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era...
did not chart in the UK but reached #53 in France, whilst the Exciters version reached #1 there.
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
was on a stop-over in New York City en route to Nashville to make a country music album with The Springfields
The Springfields
The Springfields were a British pop-folk vocal trio who had success in the early 1960s in the UK, US and Ireland and included singer Dusty Springfield and her brother, record producer Tom Springfield, along with Tim Feild, later a noted Sufi writer, who was latterly replaced by Mike Hurst, who...
in 1962, when she heard the Exciters' "Tell Him" playing while taking a late night walk by the Colony Record Store on Broadway: the experience decided Springfield to embark on a solo career with a Pop/Soul direction. She'd recall: "The Exciters sort of got you by the throat...out of the blue comes blasting at you “I know something about love”, and that’s it. That’s what I wanna do."
"Tell Him" had its highest UK charting — #6 — via a 1974 remake by Hello
Hello (band)
Hello is a Bell Records label, teen appeal glam rock band, based in England.-Career:The core of Hello was founded in about 1969, originally being called The Age. The band was started by Bob Bradbury, previously of The Flashback Berries, with Jeff Allen , Keith Marshall and Vic Faulkner...
whose producer Mike Leander
Mike Leander
Michael George Farr professionally known as Mike Leander was an arranger and record producer for Decca Records in the 1960s and Bell Records in the 1970s and worked with such artists as Marianne Faithfull, Billy Fury, Marc Bolan, Joe Cocker, The Small Faces, Van Morrison, Alan Price, Peter...
had cut an earlier version with the Glitter Band
The Glitter Band
The Glitter Band are a glam rock band from England, who initially worked as Gary Glitter's backing band under that name from 1973, when they then began releasing records of their own. They were unofficially known as the Glittermen on the first four hit singles by Gary Glitter from 1972 to 1973. The...
which he felt could be improved upon. Hello's "Tell Him" also hit #32 in Germany.http://www.alexgitlin.com/hello.html. "Tell Him" would return to the UK charts in 1996 when Caroline Quentin
Caroline Quentin
Caroline Jones known by her stage name Caroline Quentin, is an English actress. Quentin became known for her television appearances in Men Behaving Badly, playing Dorothy, and playing Maddy Magellan in Jonathan Creek for three years.-Early life:...
and Leslie Ash
Leslie Ash
Leslie Ash is an English actress, best known for her role in the sitcom Men Behaving Badly. Her book My Life Behaving Badly: The Autobiography was published in 2007....
who co-starred in the series Men Behaving Badly
Men Behaving Badly
Men Behaving Badly is a British comedy that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang and his flatmates, Dermot Povey and Tony Smart It was first broadcast on ITV in 1992...
hit #25 with their remake credited to Quentin and Ash.
In the US "Tell Him" has reappeared on the Hot 100 twice both times as "Tell Her": in 1966 by Dean Parrish
Dean Parrish
Dean Parrish is an American soul singer from New York, best known for the song, "I'm On My Way", which became famous for being the last record that was played at Northern Soul all-nighters at the Wigan Casino.-Career:Anastasi was born to Italian and Spanish parents and was raised in Little Italy,...
(#97) and in 1989 by Kenny Loggins
Kenny Loggins
During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...
(#76).
"Tell Him" has also been recorded by Sonny and Cher, Josie Cotton
Josie Cotton
Josie Cotton is an American singer/songwriter, best known for her minor hits "Johnny Are You Queer" and "He Could Be the One" from 1982...
and Vonda Sheppard, whose version was heavily featured on the show Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama series which aired on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...
.
Covered in 1963 as "Dis-lui" (literally "Tell Him") by French pop singer Claude François
Claude François
Claude François was a French pop singer, songwriter and dancer. He wrote "Comme d'habitude," the original version of "My Way."-Early life:...
, reaching No.1 in French chart.
The female regulars the TV show Living Single
Living Single
Living Single is an American television sitcom which aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 29, 1993 to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who share personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone.Throughout its run, Living...
performed a comic version of this song.
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
recorded a cover for her album "Get Closer
Get Closer
Get Closer is a Gold-plus, Grammy-nominated album by singer/songwriter/producer Linda Ronstadt. It arrived two and a half years after Ronstadt's controversial Punk Rock Mad Love album...
" (1982).
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
and The Chipettes
The Chipettes
The Chipettes are a fictional group of anthropomorphic chipmunk singers first appearing on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes...
covered the song for their 1984 television special "I Love the Chipmunks Valentine Special."
In 1984 in Bulgaria, Rositsa Kirilova, in collaboration with the Brothers Argirovi, recorded a disco version of "Tell Him" titled “Избрах нарочно вас” (I've Chosen You Intentionally). The track - whose Bulgarian lyrics are unconnected to the original English version - became a major dance floor hit.
In American Dreams
American Dreams
American Dreams is an American television comedy-drama program broadcast on the NBC television network, produced by Once A Frog and Dick Clark Productions in association with Universal Network Television and NBC Studios...
, Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie
Nicole Camille Richie is an American fashion designer, author, actress, singer and television personality. Her father was Peter Michael Escovedo, a musician who played for a brief time with Lionel Richie, and her mother Karen was the executive assistant for Sheila Escovedo...
portrayed Brenda Reid, the lead singer of the girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
The Exciters
The Exciters
The Exciters were an American pop music group of the 1960s. They were originally a girl group, although a male member was added later. The group consisted of lead singer Brenda Reid, her husband Herb Rooney, Carolyn Johnson and Lillian Walker....
, and sang "Tell Him" in the show.
In 2009, The Exciters' "Tell Him" was included on the soundtrack for the DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
film Monsters vs. Aliens
Monsters vs. Aliens
Monsters vs. Aliens is a 2009 American computer-animated 3-D science fiction film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
.
In 2011, the television series Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
featured "Tell Him" in the episode "Silly Love Songs
Silly Love Songs
Silly Love Songs is a song written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Wings. The song appeared on the 1976 album, Wings at the Speed of Sound. It was also released as a single in 1976. The US single was released on 1 April 1976 and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The UK single was...
".
Also in 2011, a parody of "Tell Him" was performed on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
in a malt shop setting.