Billboard #1 Hits: #364: “He Don’t Love You [Like I Love You}- Tony Orlando and Dawn. May 3, 1975. #1 for 3 weeks in Billboard Hot 100.
- Single: “He Don’t Love You {Like I Love You”}- Tony Orlando and Dawn
- Record Company-Elektra
- Genre: Pop
- Written by Jerry Butler, Calvin Carter and Curtis Mayfield
- Time: 3:29
- B-side: “Pick It Up”
- Album- He Don’t Love You, Like I Love You
- Grade: C-
- Peaked at #1 3 weeks in Billboard Hot 100.
“He Don’t Love You [Like I Love You} went back a decade and a half to Jerry Butler who co-wrote it and released it as “He Will Break Your Heart.” The original went to #7 in the Billboard Hot 100. At the Golden Globe Awards Tony Orlando and Dawn were waiting in the lobby- and Orlando spoke to actress Faye Dunaway and her then husband Peter Wolf of The J. Geils Band. The couple started singing old R&B tunes and suggested to Orlando that they record this one. Orlando contacted Curtis Mayfield to get permission and to change the title. Mayfield agreed. The good news- this would be the final #1 hit for Tony Orlando & Dawn. Like The Osmonds the second half of the 70’s would not be polluted by their ‘music.”
This song put the corn in corny.
They completely stripped the soul out of this song. I still can’t believe it was a #1 hit, but as we’ve already discussed, the mid 70s had a lot of contradictions, music-wise.