| Mr. Blue" is a popular song first recorded by DeWayne Blackwell in 1959. It became a hit for The Fleetwoods, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1959 and giving the group its second chart-topping hit of the year. The Fleetwoods were a singing trio from Olympia, Washington, formed in the late 1950s. They were responsible for eleven hit songs, beginning with "Come Softly to Me". The song was originally called "Come Softly", as written and arranged by founding lead singer Gretchen Christopher. The group was originally named Two Girls and a Guy. Gary Troxel and Gretchen Christopher were two Olympia High School students,waiting for Christopher's mother to pick her up after school. Troxel started humming and said it was a jazz trumpet riff he had in his head. Christopher recognized that it was based on the same chord progression as the song she had been writing. She arranged and sang her melody and lyrics in counterpoint to his background, and liked it enough to ask Troxel to repeat it with her for Christopher's friend and singing partner, Barbara Ellis. The Fleetwoods continued to record into the 1960s, with a number of other successes. Their second hit, "Graduation's Here" was followed by "Mr. Blue," which, like "Come Softly", also topped the pop charts. |
