i just heard that we lost Ivy Jo Hunter this past week. Rest in peace, Ivy, you are a legend! You won't be forgotten. Godspeed.
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i just heard that we lost Ivy Jo Hunter this past week. Rest in peace, Ivy, you are a legend! You won't be forgotten. Godspeed.
Thank you. I also saw this mentioned on the Facebook page in his honor. Through researching, I can't find any other verification that he passed.
Truly sorry to hear abut the passing of another Motown Legend. Rest In Power & Music Ivy Jo Hunter.
If this is true then I am truly both sad and dissapointed - passing time has beaten us again.....
Very sad news indeed! God bless you dear friend Ivy Jo RIP
Grape :)
Very sad news indeed...as long as Motown lives so does Mr Ivy Jo Hunter...rest in peace my friend..I will miss your birthday wishes.
Shocked and extremely saddened by this. Loved his contribution to the Motown Sound with some absolute favourites from his catalogue. Also a lovely friend on Facebook. Such a shame.
He was amazing, so sad to lose such a great man who issued over a hundred records. My favourite is his VIP record however the unissued copy version from 1970 that he dueted with David Ruffin "I Can Feel The Pain" is just stunning. May he rest in peace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg7NwD5SoYU
I was afraid this would be the news when I opened this. RIP to this underrated writer and producer, as well as vocalist. I wish we would have gotten the entirety of “In This Bag” while Ivy Jo was still with us.
RIP Ivy Jo. A true Motown legend.
Would still love to see In This Bag released.
Thank you Ivy Jo for your wonderful contribution to my favourite music. R.I.P.
Me too Tomato Tom and the rest of his recordings.
Has anyone seen official confirmation?
Obituary in news today
https://abtc.ng/ivy-jo-hunter-obituary-cause-of-death/
Lamont Dozier. Ivy Jo Hunter
Both gone in such a short time. The most distinctive, gifted and magnificent of all the Motown producers/ composers. Unique, irreplaceable, awesome. The names which guaranteed a thrilling record you would always treasure and remember
loved all the Stevenson/Hunter records, they were among the BEST. Rest In Peace Ivy Joe Hunter.
I wish I could site the source; however, I've read that on the majority of the Stevenson/Hunter songwriting endeavors, it was usually Ivy Jo's work with little or no input from Stevenson. His work was indeed sophisticated, well polished, and ranks up there in greatness, at least to me, with those Motown writers/producers who had more clout.
I found this yesterday on Wikipedia. I guarantee it is not a complete listing; however, it is just a beginning. It is what it is. A glimpse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego..._Ivy_Jo_Hunter
He wrote at least 17 songs alone plus 70 odd others with Mickey Stevenson and others plus 50 odd with other writers so thats around 140 Motown credits!
My Friend Mickey Nold who worked closely with the late and much missed Bill Randle has very kindly reposted the hour long interview Bill did with Ivy Jo Hunter some years ago.
There appears to be very little online presence of Ivy Jo, and although some were on his facebook, the world at large has little access to the thoughts and history of his career by the great man himself. I hope Ivy Jo fans enjoy it.
https://www.mixcloud.com/billrandle1...er-25-yrs-ago/
jobucats
It could be this article...copied from Soul Source
https://www.soul-source.co.uk/articl...ob-moss-r2789/
Thank you, Snakepit. Although that article wasn't the one I recall reading, it did give some excellent insight on the working relationship between Stevenson and Hunter. It's also interesting that Ivy Jo said he was given credit [[by Stevenson) for "My Baby Loves Me', among other songs, that he didn't even have anything to do with it. It appears they both had high regard and respect for each other.
Jobucats
Yes a very good article.
Ivy & Mickey had an agreement...sharing credits, either as a pair or as solo writers.
The link to the Bill Randle mixcloud is worth listening to as well.
Shame the few tracks on "In My Bag" were not released as an album. In the interview with Bill Randle Ivy Jo states there are 200 unreleased tracks in the can!
yes, don't know what I'm thinkin', But I thought a CD was issued several years ago.I enjoyed the links above to the audio interview & then to the article. Thanks to you guys! Motown Record Corp. of Detroit, Mi. was a major part of my life since I was 10 years old in 1961. Ivy Joe Hunter/William Stevenson are the 2 writers/producers that I really LOVED!They along with HDH & Smokey were like GODS to me. Rest In Peace, Mr. Hunter, you deserve Paradise.
Wow. Only 26 comments on Ivy Jo passing.
I always considered him a giant composer for Motown. Not much interest here, sadly.
The Guardian,a mainstream newspaper in the U.K. not the U.S.A., at least gave him the respect and recognition he absolutely deserves. Disappointing
Ivy Jo Hunter obituary
Motown songwriter best known for his part in Martha and the Vandellas’ worldwide hit Dancing in the Street
Martha Reeves, the lead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, liked to nail a song in a single take, and one day in May 1964 she believed she had done a decent job first time around on a new song called Dancing in the Street. But then a voice came from the control booth in the Motown label’s Detroit studio, apologetically asking her for one more try because the tape machine had not been turned on.
An exasperated Reeves began it again, this time with an extra edge in her voice: “Calling out around the world, are you ready for a brand-new beat? Summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the street …” When she finished, she saw the producers high-fiving each other. They had bluffed her into giving a more urgent performance on what would become not just a worldwide hit and one of the records that best defined the Motown Sound but, albeit unwittingly, a call to arms for civil rights protesters that summer and in those that followed.
Ivy Jo Hunter, a Motown songwriter, was the man who had bluffed Reeves, in collaboration with the record’s producer, William “Mickey” Stevenson. He and Stevenson, the company’s head of A&R, had completed a song begun by Marvin Gaye, who had come up with the title and the idea – borrowed from Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen – of including a list of US cities in the lyric: “They’re dancing in Chicago, down in New Orleans, in New York City …” Initially conceived as a ballad, the song was remodelled to make the tempo fit the title.
Hunter, who has died aged 82, was also partly responsible for the record’s monstrous backbeat, which sent listeners straight to the dancefloor. As well as the conventional combination of snare drum and tambourine, the beat was reinforced by the sound of Hunter hitting a set of tyre chains with a piece of wood. “His hands were bleeding when he’d finished,” Reeves remembered. Hunter also taught the backing vocals to the two Vandellas, Rosalind Ashford and Betty Kelly, and sang along with them as they overdubbed their part.
Martha & the Vandellas, Dancing in the Street
By October, the song was sitting at No 2 in the US pop chart, kept off the top spot by Manfred Mann’s Do Wah Diddy Diddy. [[Reissued in the UK in 1969, it reached the top five.)
Born George Ivy Hunter in Detroit, he attended Cass Tech high school, like many others who would become professional musicians. “My mother didn’t want me to go into the music business,” he said. “She thought it was no good, so I studied commercial art at Cass but still played trumpet and baritone sax in the Detroit All City Orchestra.” While studying commercial art, Hunter also sang in amateur vocal groups.
After a spell in the US Army, he returned home and took a day job at an electrical company while attempting to launch a career as a performer at clubs such as the 20 Grand and Phelps Lounge. There, amid a Detroit music scene he described as “buzzing”, he became friendly with Hank Cosby, a saxophonist who worked for Motown. Through Cosby, Hunter met Stevenson, who signed him to contract with the company as an artist, songwriter, producer and manager.
Hunter was born in Detroit and was signed to Motown as an artist, songwriter, producer and manager.
Hunter was born in Detroit and was signed to Motown as an artist, songwriter, producer and manager. Photograph: Paul Roque/Sygma/Getty Images
His change of professional name to Ivy Jo Hunter would be the cause of multiple confusions. In the 1950s a Texan singer and pianist named Ivory Joe Hunter had enjoyed national hits with I Almost Lost My Mind and Since I Met You Baby. And Motown’s first staff musician was a Tennessee-born pianist named Joe Hunter, who recruited and ran the label’s studio band between 1959 and 1963. The name Ivy Jo – sometimes appearing just as Ivy – also deceived the sort of fans who studied the credits on record labels and album jackets into assuming he was a woman.
Berry Gordy Jr, the label’s founder, encouraged his young songwriters and producers to work together in an environment that mixed collaboration with competition. At first Hunter felt like an outsider, but his partnership with Stevenson eventually brought success in 1964 with Dancing in the Street and a dance-craze song called Can You Jerk Like Me with the Contours, followed by a majestic and much-loved ballad called Ask the Lonely with the Four Tops the following year. He collaborated with Stevie Wonder, then 15 years old, on the pounding Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever, recorded by the Four Tops in 1966 and later covered by the Band, Nick Kamen and others.
Motown’s A-list stars, such as the Supremes and the Temptations, were generally considered to be the “property” of the songwriter/producer teams who provided them with strings of hits, which restricted Hunter’s scope and mostly limited him to working with the label’s second-tier acts. But among the records to which he contributed were several still cherished by aficionados of the Motown Sound, among them I’ll Keep Holding On and Danger Heartbreak Ahead by the Marvelettes, Behind a Painted Smile by the Isley Brothers and Truly Yours by the Spinners.
Motown’s failure to promote him as an artist was a disappointment unassuaged by the barely noticed release in 1970 of a single, I Remember When, while an album remained unreleased.
Gordy’s decision to move his operations to Los Angeles that same year left Hunter among the many suddenly stranded in Detroit, disillusioned, resentful and contemplating legal action. He continued working as a session man with the Dells and Funkadelic, among others, while occasionally recording under his own name. A songwriting collaboration in 1990 with Ian Levine, the British disc jockey who recorded old Motown stars on his Motorcity label, led to Running Through My Fingers, which became popular on the beach music scene in South Carolina.
In 2012 the rapper Trick Daddy had a hit with The Children’s Song, a version of Hold On [[to Your Dream), written by Hunter and Vernon Bullock in the late 70s for Wee Gee, the former lead singer of the Dramatics, which became a popular track for graduation ceremonies. “God sure gave me one with that song,” Hunter said. In 2009, despite previous acrimony, he took part in Motown’s 50th anniversary celebrations in Detroit.
• Ivy Jo Hunter [[George Ivy Hunter), songwriter and singer, born 28 August 1940; died 6 October 2022
Many thanks Mike a fitting tribute to a wonderful but very underrated artist.At least we have what it seems to be a very small portion of his legacy. Here`s hoping for "Ivy Jo is In This Bag" and much, much more.
I think there is more interest in Ivy than the number of comments indicates. Ivy was like so many others in the Motown machine who contributed far more than the most casual fan would ever know. I always make mention of him in videos and have even featured his name in the title of a couple recent ones. There is always a response whenever Ivy Jo is mentioned. Unfortunately, the write-ups seen online only tell a very small portion of Ivy's story. A few facts and the same couple of anecdotes about "Dancing In The Street." With Ivy, the fuller picture has to be gathered from the full array of songs he wrote, and the way he produced them. There definitely seemed to be themes of love lost and nearly unbearable heartbreak in many of his song- and they seemed to come from a very personal place within himself. Like Marvin Gaye, I remember getting the impression Ivy was sometimes working out his personal life in some of those songs he wrote.
I loved his work with the Marvelettes and the Isley Brothers in particular. With the Marvelettes I had the feeling he was trying very hard to move them into more intricate and complex material: "The Stranger" "Rainy Mourning," "Just One More Kiss [[Before You Leave)". I had the great honor to be able to ask him about some of these on Facebook and he gave some great background on what he was doing. With The Isley Brothers, I feel like they were to Ivy Jo what the Four Tops were to HDH.
Then consider how he liked to utilize some fairly "odd" drum patterns on his material; drums accenting the 1's or the 3's or the 4's. I'm sure Quality Control must have been challenged by THAT. I recall a comment Ivy made [[rather caustically) about working with The Spinners and trying to "funnel them into that so-called Motown Sound." I think that comment stemmed from some frustration with always having to churn out material with Motown's signature 4-on-the-floor drum/rhythm material. Truly, I don't think we'll ever really fully get a great handle on the fascinating way that man's mind worked or the way he was constantly trying to expand the musical landscape of how a Motown record could sound.
Roger, thank-you. WaitingWatching, your assessment is a really good insight. Thanks
Yes a very good post. I too believe that his sad songs seem to come from deep inside.
He statedd on a several occasions that he thought HDH repeated their formula , perhaps a bit of envy, as he couldn't get a shot at the A list very often. He wanted to offer something different and as a result, we were treated to so many great tracks.
Let's hope somebody gets the go ahead for a collection of his recordings.
But in re
Attachment 20015
Sorry to hear this sad news. Ivy was my favourite writer, as he was the driving force in the Stevenson-Hunter writing team, and then were my favourite songwriting team. Their music brought a lot of joy and pleasure into our lives. I don't think you can gauge popularity or remembrance from the number of posts on this thread.
The Guardian obituary quoted above has it right about his professional name. The number of times I’ve seen the two names/guys confused has really got me riled!
Although I've been an avid Motown fan and collector since 1964, I knew very little about Ivy Jo Hunter. I would see his name and songwriter/producer credits on several Motown singles which I loved [[Martha & The Vandellas, The Marvelettes, The Four Tops, etc.) along with Mickey Stevenson credits; but, other than that, Motown didn't promote Ivy Jo at all here in the U.S.. In fact, I was somewhat surprised to learn of his near-hero reputation that he's earned over the years -- especially across "the pond" with his loyal Northern Soul U.K. following. I've learned of Ivy Jo's underground popularity here on the Motown Forum. Like everyone else who commented, I, too, would welcome a CD [[or, better yet, a 2-CD) release of his "In The Bag" tracks as well as other previously-unreleased Motown recordings. In the meantime, may Ivy Jo Hunter rest in peace with his fellow Heavenly Motown artists.
Here's a Very Interesting article about Ivy Jo Hunter from Adam White's West Grand Blog.
A Lonesome Hunter — Adam White [adampwhite.com]
Many thanks Motown Eddie. It looks as though Ivy`s cd. was very close to release. Why would it be withheld ? it just doesn`t make any sense at all. The longer it is left then there will be fewer of us fans alive to buy it.
Definitely another one of his signatures. I'd say his influences may have been pretty broad, maybe including some of the harder Rock bands of the day. First time I heard "Why When Love Is Gone" it kinda startled me! I thought they had brought Jimi Hendrix or someone into Motown [[I was really young at the time!) I really liked it though and if you look at the grooves in my "Doin' Their Thing" album, you'll see the grooves are several shades lighter for that intro than the rest of the album, cuz I kept putting the needle back there over and over.