"This Diamond Ring" is a 1965 song written by

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song " Like ...

, Bob Brass and

Irwin Levine Irwin Jesse Levine (March 23, 1938 – January 21, 1997)
- accessed April 11, 2012 was an American songwriter, who co-wrote ...

. The original demo was sung by

Jimmy Radcliffe James Radcliffe (November 18, 1936 – July 27, 1973) was an American soul singer, composer, arranger, conductor and record producer. Biography James Radcliffe was born in New York City. He released such singles as "My Ship is Coming In", a so ...

. It was first released as a single by Sammy Ambrose on Musicor #1061, then by

Gary Lewis & the Playboys Gary Lewis & the Playboys were a 1960s Pop music, pop and Rock music, rock group, fronted by musician Gary Lewis (musician), Gary Lewis, the son of comedian Jerry Lewis. They are best known for their 1965 Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 1 ...

on Liberty #55756. Lewis' version charted first, number 101 on the January 2, 1965, Billboard "Bubbling Under" chart. Both versions charted on January 9, Lewis still at number 101 and Ambrose at number 117. Ambrose dropped off the chart at that point, but Lewis made number 65 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart the next week (January 16) and his version continued to climb until it reached number 1 on February 20, 1965.

Gary Lewis & the Playboys version

According to David Brackett,

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

' vocals were heavily supported by Ron Hicklin's overdubs. The session drummer was

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

Joe Osborn Joe Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock a ...

played keyboards and arranged the music. The song was produced by Snuff Garrett. Lewis has denied claims that the Playboys did not play on the record, and says that not only was the band largely self-contained, but the Wrecking Crew session musicians only came to do overdubs or solos. Although it has been his biggest commercial success as a songwriter, Al Kooper has reportedly stated many times that he was unhappy with the record. He originally hoped the song would be recorded by a group like

The Drifters The Drifters are an American pop and R&B/soul vocal group. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in 1959 and ...

and based on the original demo of the song as recorded by

. Kooper would later re-visit the song, recording a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

y version for his 1976 album '' Act Like Nothing's Wrong.''

Charts

Other versions

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks and billed for their first two decades as the Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for Novelty records in ...

recorded the song for their 1965 album ''

Chipmunks à Go-Go ''Chipmunks à Go-Go'' is an album by Alvin and the Chipmunks and David Seville, released by Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Alvin Bennett as presid ...

''. *

Billy Fury Ronald Wycherley (17 April 1940 – 28 January 1983), better known by his stage name Billy Fury, was an English musician. An early star of rock and roll, he spent 332 weeks on the UK singles chart. His hit singles include " Wondrous Place", " H ...

included it on the 1965

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

album ''14'', also known as '' The Lord's Taverners Charity Album''. *Singer Wendy Hill released an

answer record An answer song, response song or answer record is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...

to “This Diamond Ring” entitled “(Gary, Please Don’t Sell) My Diamond Ring” on Liberty Records. The single “Bubbled Under” the Billboard Hot 100 Charts at No. 134 in 1965.

References

{{Authority control 1965 songs 1965 singles Gary Lewis & the Playboys songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by Irwin Levine Liberty Records singles