B-side "Bossa Nova Blues" Format 7" Genre Rhythm and blues | Released May 1963 Recorded 1963 Length 2:25 | |
"Just One Look" is a song co-written by American R&B singers Doris Troy and Gregory Carroll. The recording by Doris Troy was a hit in 1963. The Hollies, Anne Murray and Linda Ronstadt recorded hit versions of their own. There have also been many other versions of this song.
Contents
Background
Details vary as to how the Doris Troy version came to be released on Atlantic Records. According to the book Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, James Brown saw Troy performing in a nightclub (under her then-stage name Doris Payne), and introduced her to Atlantic. According to a more recent and detailed story in Soulful Divas, Payne recorded a studio demo of the song and took it to Sue Records first, but their lack of response led her to offer it to Jerry Wexler at Atlantic, where the label released the demo unchanged. The personnel on this song included Ernie Hayes on piano, Wally Richardson on guitar, Bob Bushnell on bass and Bernard Purdie on drums.
Reception
In 1963, Doris Troy scored her only hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Just One Look". The song spent 14 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 10, while reaching No. 3 on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart, No. 8 on New Zealand's "Lever Hit Parade", and No. 1 on Canada's CHUM Hit Parade. The single's release was the first time she started using "Doris Troy" as her stage name, though her pen name remained Doris Payne. The album also lists the surname Payne in the songwriting credits.
In Popular Culture
Doris Troy's version of the song was featured in a 1991 Pepsi commercial starring Cindy Crawford, which was reaired during Super Bowl XXXV in 2001. An updated version of the ad, still featuring Cindy Crawford and Troy's version of the song aired in 2002. In 2015, Troy's version of the song was featured in an ad for Aspartame Free Diet Pepsi. The song was also used in a series of commercials for Mazda beginning in 1979 and continuing into the early 1980s. The song is also featured in a scene in the movie Crazy, Stupid Love.
Background
"Just One Look" became a hit in the United Kingdom via a cover version by the Hollies which reached No. 2 on the Record Retailer chart in April 1964. It became the 37th biggest hit of the year. Although not a major U.S. hit in its original release, the Hollies' "Just One Look" marked the first appearance of the Hollies on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 98. A U.S. re-issue in 1967 reached No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Background
Anne Murray remade "Just One Look" for her 1974 Love Song album. The track was produced by Brian Ahern and issued as a single that October. Her cover reached No. 11 on Canada's RPM Top Singles chart, No. 12 on Canada's CHUM 30, and spent two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 86. The song's B-side, "Son of a Rotten Gambler", reached No. 1 on Canada's Adult Contemporary chart in 1974.
Background
Linda Ronstadt remade "Just One Look" for her 1978 album Living in the USA. Her cover of the song was issued on Asylum Records as the album's third single in early 1979 and was produced by Peter Asher. Ronstadt's single spent eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 44, while reaching No. 5 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart.