Ivy Jo Hunter - Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever

Ivy Jo Hunter (born George Ivy Hunter was a soul musician and rock and roll pioneer, a songwriter and record producer for the Motown label.

Raised in Detroit, Michigan, he was trained in orchestral music—primarily trumpet and keyboards. After a stint in the United States Army, Hunter began performing as a singer in the proto-soul venues around Detroit, where he was discovered by Motown's first A&R man, William "Mickey" Stevenson. With Stevenson, Hunter became a principal in the Motown Records house band and began to write some of the most significant hits of the early Motown years. Hunter produced and wrote songs for Motown artists like The Marvelettes, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye, for whom he produced the Top 40 hit single "You" in 1968. As a vocalist he recorded a great deal of material with Motown during the sixties including demos of his own compositions, but nothing was released until 1970. In 1970, Motown issued an Ivy Jo single on their soon to be discontinued VIP label entitled 'I Remember When (Dedicated to Beverly)'. The following year another single on VIP was issued entitled 'I'd Still love You'. An album was also planned with the title 'Ivy Jo is in this Bag', but was shelved. Shortly after this he left Motown.

With Marvin Gaye and William Stevenson, he cowrote the smash Martha and the Vandellas hit "Dancing in the Street" which, in the fall of 1964, provided an American counterpart to the British Invasion. He continued to write, produce, serve as session musician and perform throughout the 1960s. In 1970, he contributed to Funkadelic's "Mommy, What's A Funkadelic?" on that band's eponymous first album.

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[YRRAL1969]

Ivy Jo Hunter co- wrote this song with Stevie Wonder .

[libbygrey2009]

great version never heard this one before.

[hollidayevery]

Fantastic version...I don't know why Motown would shelve an album by someone that could sing as well as Ivy...It should have been easy coming up with hits with a voice this great!! Such power, emotion, and control!!

[waynebrasler]

A beautiful take on the song, with an interesting arrangement. Every great Motown song could be done in many ways. Loved the Tops original, adore the Marvin cover and this one is nifty too.

[northerncrumpet]

I knew he did a lot of writing & producing but I didn't know the guy could sing. What a great voice, full of soul. I know the Tops set the standard with this song, but this is an excellent version of the classic. 5*