Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: Lezli Valentine

Love on a Two Way Street

First recorded by Lezli Valentine (1968).
Hit versions by The Moments (1968 |US #3/R&B #1 1970), Stacy Lattisaw (US #13/R&B #2 1981).

From the wiki: “Written by Sylvia Robinson and Bert Keyes in 1968. ‘Love on a Two-Way Street’ was first recorded by Lezli Valentine, an artist signed to All Platinum, the record label that Robinson co-owned with her husband, Joe. Released as a single, it had no apparent chart impact.

“The song was then recorded by The Moments (‘Don’t Cry Out Loud‘) – with Billy Brown re-recording the lead vocal over the Valentine’s original instrumental track – as filler for their 1968 album Not on the Outside, But on the Inside, Strong!, released on Stang Records, a subsidiary label of All Platinum also created by Robinson. (The Moments would later evolve into the vocal trio Ray, Goodman & Brown.)

“Two years later, in March 1970, the Robinsons decided to belatedly release the Moments’ track as a single. It would go on to become one of the biggest R&B hits of that year and the highest-charting single of the The Moments’ career, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the R&B chart.

“In 1981, Stacy Lattisaw covered ‘Love on a Two-Way Street’, peaking in the Hot 100 Top-15 and at #2 on the R&B chart.”