29 June, 1962.

I can’t do the twist but there’s definitely been some mashed potato going on around the coffee machine this morning, that’s for sure.

Written by Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr. this was originally intended to be recorded by The Temptations. When Gordy tried to get the group together though, nobody could find them. It turned out that they knew nothing of Gordy’s plan and had  left the studio to go to a gospel music showcase. Whilst looking for the missing singers, Gordy bumped into the Contours and saw his opportunity to get the song recorded and released as soon as possible. They jumped at the chance as they were at risk of being dropped from the Gordy Records label after their first two singles had failed to make the charts.

It turns out it was a wise move for both the record label and the Contours. The song became an instant success, reaching number three on the US chart and number one one the R&B chart and selling over a million copies.

In 1988 the song went through a revival after featuring in the film Dirty Dancing, and once again stormed up the US charts where it peaked at number eleven. Unfortunately the song wasn’t so popular in the UK where it didn’t even make the charts on the first release and only managed number seventy-six second time around.