By summer 1962, Marvin Gaye had recorded for Tamla Records, a subsidiary of
Motown Enterprises, for a year with limited success. The previous summer, Gaye released his first
LP,
The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, an album of
jazz and
pop standards that failed to crack the charts. He had also released a total of three
singles, all of which also failed to enter the
Billboard charts. According to some within the label, he was considered "the least likely hit maker". During 1961, Gaye had spent time on the road as a
drummer for fellow Tamla act,
The Miracles, and had also drummed for
blues artist
Jimmy Reed, earning $5 weekly. In early 1962, Gaye scored his first major success as a
songwriter, composing music with producer
Mickey Stevenson and George Gordy on
The Marvelettes' top 40 hit, "
Beechwood 4-5789". Though he had initially wanted to avoid the
rhythm and blues market, Gaye figured it was his only way to establish himself as a
crossover pop act, and reluctantly agreed to record a song in that style. Hiring Stevenson and Gordy, Gaye wrote and composed a song that fit his sometimes moody attitude, titling it "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" after
Berry Gordy suggested some piano chord changes to Gaye. In a 1982 interview conducted in Europe, Gaye recalled "Berry heard me playing it on the piano. He came over and he said something to the effect of, 'I like that melody but can you do something else with it.' That was my first power encounter with him. I remember he wanted me to change some chords. I had a brief argument with him as to why I thought it should remain the way I wrote it. In any event, I changed things his way." With Gaye singing in a husky, strong voice, the song's guitarist
Dave Hamilton later stated, "You could hear the man screaming on that tune, you could tell he was hungry", further indicating Gaye's determination to succeed noting, "If you listen to that song you'll say, 'Hey man, he was trying to make it because he was on his last leg'." The song included
Martha Reeves on background vocals with several of her friends from a former group, the Del-Phis, including
Rosalind Ashford and
Annette Beard. Reeves, Ashford and Beard later formed
Martha and the Vandellas at the end of the year.
Raynoma Gordy Singleton, then-wife of Berry Gordy, claimed in her autobiography
Berry, Me & Motown that she was the fourth backing singer on the song ==Personnel==