Judy Stone - 4,003,221 Tears From Now (1964)

Kerri Downs - 4,003,221 Tears From Now (1963)

(Artie Wayne - Ben Raleigh)
 USA
Original version

Single on Epic, released November 1963. Arranged by Ray Stevens, produced by Bob Morgan.

Kerri Downs, born Mary Lou Kiernan, released five singles 1963-66 on three labels. She was married to singer-songwriter-producer Gerry Granahan, and joined girl group The Angels for a while, recruited by Gerry (though she had left by the time of My Boyfriend’s Back). Gerry’s wide-ranging career included recording as lead singer of Dickie Doo And The Don’ts and co-writing their first hit Click-Clack (1958).

Co-writer Artie Wayne also wrote Marcia Hines’s From The Inside and co-wrote Ray Brown’s Go To Him. Joey Powers’ 1963 hit Midnight Mary is also an Artie Wayne-Ben Raleigh composition. Ben Raleigh’s credits include Dinah Lee’s Do The Blue Beat, written with Pretty Flamingo composer Mark Barkan, another frequent collaborator.

Further reading: 1. Artie Wayne shares his memories of Ben Raleigh in a January 2005 post to the Spectropop discussion group [archived]. 2. Gerry Granahan biography by Bruce Eder at AllMusic. 3. Screen shot at 45Cat.com of a promotional copy from early 1964, along with a photo of Kerri Downs and an Epic publicity letter. As the comments and the letter confirm, the single first came out in late 1963.