Contours still loved after all these years

Legends of the Motown era will be featured at the symphony pops opener.

The Vindicator

YOUNGSTOWN — The Contours, the Motown group that asked the musical question “Do You Love Me?” will join the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra in a season-opening pops concert. “Motown Spectacular” will be Saturday at Powers Auditorium. Randall Craig Fleisher, music director of the orchestra, will serve as conductor.

The Contours experienced a resurgence in popularity after the Academy Award winning film “Dirty Dancing” (1987). The Contours’ hit “Do You Love Me” was featured in the film and became so popular that it gave birth to the international Dirty Dancing Tour, starring The Contours.

Motown Records capitalized on The Contours’ new popularity by reissuing their original version of “Do You Love Me.” The move paid dividends for everyone when “Do You Love Me” climbed to No. 11 on the pop charts, making the song one of the few in history to hit the top 20 in two different decades.

The road to a recording contract wasn’t an easy one for The Contours. Motown president Berry Gordy wasn’t very impressed with a three-song audition by the group. After the group’s meeting with Gordy, The Contours’ Hubert Johnson sought advice from his cousin — the legendary Jackie Wilson. Wilson asked the group to perform some of their material for him and once he was satisfied, Wilson called his old friend Gordy. The next day, The Contours had a seven-year contract.

In the summer of 1962, The Contours recorded “Do You Love Me” and it became the group’s biggest hit as well as Motown’s fastest climbing hit of all time, reaching No. 2 within two weeks of its release. The song also became The Contours’ first gold record. The ensuing years brought forth such hits as “Shake Sherrie,” “Can You Do It,” “Can You Jerk Like Me” and “Just a Little Misunderstanding.”

Upcoming concerts in the YSO’s Pops series include “Celtic Holiday,” with Irish step-dancing troupe Leahy, Dec. 6; “Symphonic Valentine,” with vocalist Monica Mancini, Feb. 14; and “Legendary Broadway Musicals,” April 4.