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Where did they get that song?

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What have they done to my song?

Melanie Safka


Obscure Originator Dept: Adam’s Apples

Australians knew You Are The One I Love through the 1968 version by Melbourne group The Groove (#3 Brisbane, #30 Melbourne).

The original version was by Adam's Apples (1967), a truly obscure group. They were apparently a vocal quintet, but apart from the usual discographic details I couldn't find much more about them.

Even a well-informed discussion at Soul-Source.co.uk was inconclusive. There was a suggestion that they were a studio outfit, but other posts had anecdotes about meeting them, or nearly meeting them, or knowing someone who met them. In places it feels like the plot of a mystery novel.

One promising lead came from someone who had once interviewed Adam's Apples and confidently stated that they were from New Brunswick in New Jersey.

We also have a photo of them in an ad for New Jersey's Palisades Park in 1967. (I could apply strict rules of evidence and call it "a photo of an Adam's Apples", but it seems plausible that they are the same group.)

Paul Leka wrote You Are The One I Love with Shelley Pinz as well as arranging, conducting and co-producing on the Adam's Apples recording. He later produced a newly arranged version by The Leaders who some say were in fact Adam's Apples but I can't verify that either.

Adam's Apples never had a hit record and might be hard to trace but, like many overlooked 60s soul artists, they found a new audience amongst Northern Soul fans. To them we are once again grateful.

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