At the session for the "My Guy" backing track, the studio musicians were having issues completing the intro. They had been playing all day and only a half-hour scheduled studio time was left. Trombonist
George Bohanon said to keyboardist
Earl Van Dyke that the opening measure of "
Canadian Sunset" could be perfectly juxtaposed on the intro's chord changes, and Van Dyke, the session bandleader, expediently constructed an intro incorporating the opening of "Canadian Sunset" and also the "left hand notes" from "Canadian Sunset" composer
Eddie Heywood's rendition of "
Begin the Beguine". Van Dyke would recall: "We were doing anything to get the hell out of that studio. We knew that the producers didn't know nothing 'bout no 'Canadian Sunset' or 'Begin the Beguine'. We figured the song would wind up in the trash can anyway". "My Guy" became the biggest hit ever for Wells, Motown's first female star, and reached the top of the
Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart on 16 May 1964. The song led the
Cashbox magazine
R&B chart for seven weeks. "My Guy" was also Wells' last hit single for Motown, except for duets she recorded with label mate
Marvin Gaye. An option in her recording contract let Wells terminate the contract at her discretion after she reached her twenty-first birthday on May 13, 1964. Encouraged by her ex-husband, Wells broke her Motown contract and signed with
20th Century Fox in hopes of higher royalties and possible movie roles. However, Wells' career never again reached the heights it had at Motown, and she never again had a hit single as big as "My Guy". Her version of the song was used in the film
More American Graffiti (1979) and in a season one episode of
Friends ("The One with Mrs. Bing"). In the United Kingdom, "My Guy" peaked at No.5 in June 1964. In 1999, the 1964 recording of "My Guy" by Mary Wells on
Motown Records was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame. ==Personnel==