"My Guy" was a 1964 hit single recorded by Mary Wells for the Motown label, written and produced by Smokey Robinson of The Miracles. Robinson helped Berry Gordy form Motown Records after they realized how little they were paid by the labels that distributed their songs.

In 1962, Gordy saw something special in an aspiring songwriter in Wells. Instead of signing her to Tamla Records, he decided that Wells would be the first artist on his brand new and then-unknown label (Motown).

At the session for the "My Guy" backing track, the studio musicians were having issues completing the intro. They had been playing all day and had only a half-hour of scheduled studio time remaining that day. Trombonist George Bohanon said to keyboardist, Earl Van Dyke, that the opening measure of "Canadian Sunset" could be a workable contrast to the intro's chord changes. Van Dyke, the session bandleader, quickly constructed an intro incorporating the opening of "Canadian Sunset" and also the "left hand notes" from "Canadian Sunset" composer Eddie Heywood's rendition of "Begin the Beguine". Van Dyke would recall: "We were doing anything to get the hell out of that studio. We knew that the producers didn't know nothing 'bout no 'Canadian Sunset' or 'Begin the Beguine'. We figured the song would wind up in the trashcan anyway".

When Wells recorded her vocal she sang over the song's outro with a huskiness evoking the line delivery of Mae West: Wells would recall: "I was only joking but the producers said 'Keep it going, keep it going'."

"My Guy" became the biggest hit ever for Wells, Motown's first female star, and reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart on 16 May 1964. It was her last solo recording for Motown. As the first female star for the record label, she also became the first to dare leave when 20th Century Fox wooed her with a $200,000 advance and potential movie roles.

Various Sources