B-side "The Love of a Boy" Format 7" (45 rpm) Genre Pop | Released 1964 Recorded 1964 Length 2:31 | |
"The Wedding", sometimes credited as "The Wedding (La Novia)", is a popular song by Joaquin Prieto from 1964 recorded by British singer Julie Rogers. The song was included on Rogers' extended play from 1964, which was also titled The Wedding, and has appeared on various compilation albums in the years since its release.
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Origins
Joaquín Prieto, a Chilean musician, wrote a song in Spanish in 1958 that he called "La novia" ("The bride"). Both the original Spanish language version, recorded by Joaquin Prieto's brother, Antonio in Argentina, and an English translation by Fred Jay soon became well known in Europe and the United States, and numerous artists recorded versions of the song during the early 1960s. Among artists who recorded versions of "The Wedding" during this time were Anita Bryant and Malcolm Vaughan. The song was also a major hit in Japan in a Japanese version by Peggy Hayama, under the original title of "La Novia." Irish singer Dickie Rock recorded a version of the song in 1988. The Daffodil Junior Australians children's choir recorded a version titled "The Wedding Song" on Troubadour Records in 1972.
Rogers version
Julie Rogers heard the song while working in Spain in the early 1960s, and by 1964 she was the featured singer with British bandleader Teddy Foster. After recording a version of the song "It's Magic", and releasing the latter as her debut single, Rogers suggested "The Wedding" as its follow-up, since it was a song she remembered fondly from her time in Spain. The single was released in the UK in August 1964 and marked her first appearance on the UK Singles Chart, steadily climbing the chart until it spent two weeks at number three in October and November of that year. Around this time Rogers' recording was released in the U.S., and "The Wedding" reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and logged three weeks atop the Billboard Middle-Road Singles (adult contemporary) chart in January 1965. The song also reached the top of the Australian Kent Music Report and was a hit in other countries as well. In the mid-1970s, it was estimated that over seven million copies of the song had been sold, and for many years after its release, it was a popular selection at wedding ceremonies around the world. The only controversy about the song was to have a Protestant woman sing a song about a Catholic wedding, especially with the use of the Latin words of Franz Scubert's version of "Ave Maria".