Marv Johnson
American singer-songwriter and pianistWikipedia
9
MENTIONS
7
EPISODES
6
PODCASTS
Search complete. 9 mentions across 7 episodes found for "Marv Johnson".
Oct 20, 2026
Chris LastelleHOST
His first single is called Blues Get Off My Shoulder, released by the VJ label in the summer of 1958.
Chris LastelleHOST
The track doesn't go very far, but the B-side, You Got What It Takes, gets noticed by Motown, where singer Marv Johnson records it in 1960, sending the song into the US top ten, selling more than a million copies.
Chris LastelleHOST
This should have been great news, except the song had never been registered for copyright because no one thought it would be a hit.
Chris LastelleHOST
A hugely expensive mistake that Barry Gordy, the chief of Motown Records, was more than happy to take advantage of as he claimed the song as his own.
Gary JacksonHOST
She wants to hear the first release over in America on the Tamla record label, which became Motown in a few years' time.
Gary JacksonHOST
1959, this is Marv Johnson and a song called Come To Me.
speaker_0SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Love me, love me, love me till you can.
Gary JacksonHOST
Touch of the doo-wops on that, wasn't there? Marv Johnson and a song called Come To Me.
Gary JacksonHOST
Well done to Stuart in Cornwall, to Brian in Derbyshire, John and Marilyn in Toton, and David and Trina in Brackley, who have all got the right answer to this.
Gary JacksonHOST
Good morning to Helmut over in Germany, where it's overcast, and he wants to hear The Drifters.
speaker_0HOST
He is also a studio guitarist who helped to shape the sound of early rock and roll.
speaker_0HOST
Marv Johnson was born in 1938.
speaker_0HOST
He was an R&B pioneer whose song, Come to Me, is considered to be the first single ever issued by Motown's earliest record label called Tamla Records.
speaker_0HOST
Speaking of Motown, Tito Jackson was born in 1953 on this date.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Battistone.
Sideshow SidHOST
Marv Johnson there, who would have been 88 a day and the very first 45 released on the legendary Motown label back in 1959.
Sideshow SidHOST
It was a song called Come to Me.
Sideshow SidHOST
Also celebrating his birthday today, Tommy Edwards before our Marv and his version of the pop standard It's All in the Game, of which his version from 1958 was the very first Afro-American 45 to go to number one in the Billboard charts.
Gary JacksonHOST
Then Ricky Nelson, Yes Sir, That's My Baby.
Gary JacksonHOST
And we finished off with Marv Johnson, and You've Gotta Move Two Mountains.
Gary JacksonHOST
But enough of Tessie O'Shea.
Gary JacksonHOST
Uh, well done on the quiz to, uh, Mick in Knebworth, Brian in Derbyshire, uh, Claire in Nottingham, and Bob in Harrow.
DarrenHOST
And, uh, this next one is no exception to that.
DarrenHOST
So thank you very much to, uh, Rollo Treadway for the suggestion of Marv Johnson, I'll Pick a Rose for My Rose.
Marv JohnsonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
[upbeat music] Rose, rose, rose.
Marv JohnsonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
This is the last time I walk into this garden.
8 MINS LATER
DarrenHOST
Well, that was tremendous, wasn't it? That was The Statler Brothers with, uh, Flowers on the Wall.
DarrenHOST
Uh, that one was suggested by Mrs. Dodds, so thank you very much, Mrs. Dodds.
DarrenHOST
Uh, ahead of that was, uh, Little Rose Little with You- You've Got the Love, uh, from 1967, as suggested by Rollo Treadway, who suggested that song and not the one that was before it, which was Marv Johnson, I'll Pick a Rose for My Rose.
DarrenHOST
That one was suggested by Cara.
John MannHOST
They're more familiar.
John MannHOST
Marv Johnson came along.
John MannHOST
I'll pick a rose.
John MannHOST
And a very, very nice tune from The Undisputed Truth.