Why ‘Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie’ Left a Sour Taste in Its Singer’s Mouth
‘200 Greatest 60s Rock Songs’ Book Excerpt
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Jerry Ross was one of Philadelphia’s most successful writers and producers in the 1960s. Ross co-wrote “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, a №2 joint release by Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations. Ross moved to New York in 1965 and produced Bobby Hebb’s 1966 hit “Sunny.”
Despite Hebb’s success, Ross had difficulty finding a follow-up single. “‘Sunny’ was zooming up the charts,” Ross told Spectropop. “Most of the other songs Bobby played for me, in my humble opinion, had no magic, so I thought I found the next song for him. I wanted to cut it as a follow-up to ‘Sunny,’ it was called ‘Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie,’ but Bobby didn’t want to do it! He wanted to stay with things he had written.
“I respected that, but [arranger] Joe Renzetti and I went in to cut a track on it anyway. Bobby still didn’t want to put his voice on this hot track. I told him I would find Mickey Mouse in Back Porch, Idaho and they would have the hit. A friend of mine who was a disc jockey in Allentown, PA, Gene Kaye, had a group he thought would be perfect for the track.
“They were a ‘mixed’ group, two black guys and two white, which was unusual at the time. I caught them and they sounded great — they were very entertaining. So we cut a new track and put them on it.”
That group was the Techniques, fronted by Jay Proctor. “Several people and groups had tried recording the song — I think even Jerry Butler,” Proctor said in Carolina Beach Music From the ’60s to the ’80s. “Jerry Ross didn’t like the way any of them did it, and so he gave it to me. But I didn’t like ‘Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie.’ I’m a very soulful singer, and there wasn’t any soul in that song at all. I didn’t want to sing about no damn fruit!
“I’m raw off the street, I don’t know anything about music, so I just opened my mouth and whatever came out, came out. Well, whatever came out pleased him, so we got to release it.”
Ross brought in a team of crack session musicians and backup singers that included Melba Moore, Nick Ashford, and Valerie Simpson. Proctor was the only member of the Techniques allowed to perform.
“Jerry used session musicians on everything we did,” said Proctor. “The band was the road group and they never went in the studio. I asked Jerry to use them, but he just felt they weren’t good enough because they didn’t read music well.”
When “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie” was released, the band’s name was changed to Jay & the Techniques without their knowledge. “I think Jerry changed it because there was Smokey Robinson & the Miracles and Martha & the Vandellas, and he just didn’t like that single-name thing,” said Proctor. “It wasn’t that I was the leader of the group, just the lead singer on the song. Then it didn’t make sense to change it back after the song was a hit.”
The song reached №8 on the charts in 1967. “Keep the Ball Rollin’” followed, a №14 hit, but Proctor doesn’t remember the era fondly. “Jerry Ross picked the song. I didn’t pick anything, and I didn’t do anything but go in and perform what I was told or asked to. But I wasn’t crazy about ‘Keep the Ball Rollin’’ either — that wasn’t soulful to me. But of course, I did it, and I’m glad I did.
“The music was way too bubble-gummy. They even called it bubble gum soul. You look back at it, and it was kind of ridiculous. It was way far from what I thought my career would be like. I never really had the chance to do anything soulful like I wanted to.”
Frank Mastropolo is the author of the 200 Greatest Rock Songs series and Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.
