Stevie Wonder "Isn’t She Lovely"

I just happened to notice in my Billboard AC book that "Isn't She Lovely" peaked at #23. I doubt all the stations played the 6+ minute version -- so either Tamla sent them an edit, or a custom-made one floated around.

jimct wrote: It is HIGHLY unlikely Tamla ever serviced anything on this, to either AC or Top 40 radio. Record labels only work a station on one song at a time by an artist, excepting AOR tracks/stations. I'm sure all the "Isn't She Lovely" radio airplay did nothing but complicate things for the Motown Top 40 promotion staff. Their orders were clear: To get radio to deliver "I Wish" and "Sir Duke" to the top of the charts (which they did.)

Sorry, chiming in a little late here. :-) With all due respect to your extremely impressive collection of 45s, jimct, I can throw a monkey wrench into your statements above, and w/ a promo 45 from the exact same time period in question (i.e., late '76/early '77)!

As I've mentioned here before, one artist that I do collect extensively - including on vinyl - is Rick Springfield. After a contract dispute w/ Columbia that kept him from releasing any new material for two years in the mid '70s, he signed w/ the indie label, Chelsea. In July of '76, they released his first single for the label, "Take a Hand" (Chelsea CH-3051), which actually climbed to #41 in "Billboard" and #47 in "Cash Box" (though apparently not quite good enough to qualify as a top 40 hit in Pat's book/database). The song's parent album, "Wait for Night", then quickly followed in August. W/ "Take a Hand" now falling down the pop charts in mid-September, Chelsea was readying their second RS single for top 40 radio: "Million Dollar Face", which the label b/w "One Broken Heart" on commercial (stock) copies (Chelsea CH-3055); of course, a stereo/mono promo (dj) copy w/ gray labels was also produced (Chelsea CH-3055-DJ). Sadly, "Million Dollar Face" failed to chart, and needless to say, commercial (stock) copies of that one are quite rare...

Now here's the kicker: Just last month, thanks to eBay, I discovered a never-before-documented (that goes for any of Tim Neely's current "Goldmine" price guides, other old "Goldmine" guides from the '80s/'90s, other books w/ RS discographies, detailed fan sites on the 'net, etc.) RS promo 45! Luckily, I won it, and have it right here in front of me as I write this: It's a mono/mono gray-label promo from Chelsea w/ "Million Dollar Face" on the A-side, and a DIFFERENT album cut on the B-side, "Treat Me Gently in the Morning". The catalog no. is simply "CH-45-DJ", and immediately under the no. on both sides is printed, "FOR ADULT CONTEMPORARY STATIONS ONLY". (The "Million Dollar Face" side of the 45 has "CH45-M-515-A" etched in the trail-off groove; the "Treat Me Gently in the Morning" side has "CH45-M-515-B". The "M" in both cases means they are in mono, and alert RS fans will know that the "515" portion represents the label's catalog no. for the songs' parent album, "Wait for Night", which was on Chelsea CHL 515.) The A-side label is date-stamped "SEP 22 1976", which was the same time Chelsea began pushing the pop version of the 45 w/ a different B-side. So no, it wasn't just AOR stations the labels were working more than one song to simultaneously back in '76; at least some of them were indeed courting AC w/ different tracks on promo 45s as well! Needless to say, this RS promo is one of my most prized 45s at the moment, since no one else seems to know it exists, and perhaps I may never see another copy... :-)

So, to sum up: Just three months later, in December of '76, could Tamla/Motown have also been courting AC radio w/ "Isn't She Lovely", at the same time "I Wish" began crossing over there from both r&b and top 40??? (By all accounts, the label didn't start pushing "Sir Duke" at any radio formats until mid-March of '77, at the earliest.) Admittedly, I see no such promo 45s or 12" singles w/ "Isn't She Lovely" cited in any of my various books/guides w/ entries/discographies on Stevie Wonder, but again, I'm finding out more & more that this is poorly-documented territory, so like EdisonLite, I can't help but, er, wonder. :-) As further evidence, I, too, have Joel Whitburn's "Top Adult Contemporary" chart book, and what EdisonLite doesn't mention above is that "Isn't She Lovely" debuted on that chart on 01/08/77 - the same week as "I Wish"! Mere coincidence???

80smusicfreak wrote: With all due respect to your extremely impressive collection of 45s, jimct, I can throw a monkey wrench into your statements above, and w/ a promo 45 from the exact same time period in question (i.e., late '76/early '77)!

80smusicfreak, with all due respect to you as well, sir, where's your alleged "monkey wrench?" Are you speculating/guessing about this? I also have all of the Tim Neely/Goldmine books, and while there are omissions, he RARELY has holes in his discographies when it comes to "superstar" artists, such as Stevie Wonder; certainly a Rick Springfield rarity could've been left out. I have many other reference guides as well, however, and from one of them comes this info: Tamla only released 12 singles in 1976 (54266 to 54277), and 14 in 1977 (54278 to 54291), and I have full title/artist info for ALL 26 of these releases. NOTHING for "Isn't She Lovely." If you have solid information to the contrary, I would ask you to provide SPECIFIC catalog information to confirm your statement above - anything is possible. If you would like me to list all of the 1976/77 Tamla 45 specific release info, just ask, and I will be happy to provide it.

Edited by jimct

Does anyone know if "Isn't She Lovely" was released as a single in any other country? If so, maybe an edit was done for that and it flowed over to American stations that were wanting to play the song.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but at that time I believe that to make it in the Billboard Top 100 singles there had to BE an actual single available for purchase. But for the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart, as well as other formats, they just measured airplay. So, a song not released as a single could make it to the AC chart but not the Hot 100 chart.
I was in CHR radio at the time and we didn't get a promo, at least at WTRY Albany. We played it from the album.

That doesn't mean that there wasn't one absolutely for sure, but it doesn't seem likely to me that AC got an edited promo 45, or a promo of any kind. It's just that Billboard WOULD measure airplay on album cuts at AC.