1965 to 1971 Various Artists – Hurting Each Other

1965 to 1971 Various Artists – Hurting Each Other

The Carpenters had a huge hit with the song Hurting Each Other, but at least two other artists released the song first.

Gary Geld and Peter Udell were songwriters who formed their own publishing company, Geld-Udell Music Corporation, in 1959. In 1960, they co-wrote the song Sealed With A Kiss. The Four Voices released the song as a single in 1960, but had little success. Brian Hyland covered the song and his single peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 in 1962. Brian also recorded another song written by Gary and Peter in 1963, but his version of Save Your Heart For Me never charted. Gary Lewis and the Playboys covered the song and reached #2 on the Hot 100 in 1965.

Jimmy Clanton had three top ten singles on the Hot 100, ending with Venus In Blue Jeans in 1962. He released a series of less successful singles through the rest of the sixties, but the British Invasion drowned him out. Gary and Peter wrote Hurting Each Other and Jimmy released a single on Mala Records that failed to chart. It became his only release on that label.

Jimmy performed the song on Hollywood A Go Go, but even that didn’t help turn the song into a hit.

Johnny Kidd and the Pirates topped the UK charts with their single Shakin’ All Over in 1960. The Canadian group Chad Allan and the Expressions released a cover version of the song that topped the Canadian charts. Randy Bachman was a member of the group at that time.

When the single was released in the US, the record label simply listed “Guess Who ?” on the label in hopes of fooling Americans into thinking they were a British group and part of the British Invasion. The ploy may have worked since the single reached #22 on the US Hot 100 in 1965.

Thanks to that success, the group became stuck with the name The Guess Who.

Hurting Each Other became one of the group’s follow-up singles in 1966. The record dropped the question mark from their name and credited The Guess Who, Featuring Chad Allan. That single peaked at #19 in Canada but failed to chart in the US.

Chad developed problems with his singing voice and quit the group. Burton Cummings joined the group and became the new lead vocalist. The group continued releasing top forty singles in Canada, but it would be 1969 before the group began their triumphant string of hit records in the US with the song These Eyes.

The Carpenters released five consecutive top three singles in 1970 and 1971. Their first single in 1972 was a cover version of Hurting Each Other. The record topped the Adult Contemporary chart and reached #2 on the Hot 100.