Needle in a Haystack

Recorded in July 1964 at Hitsville USA in Detroit with Norman Whitfield and William “Mickey” Stevenson. The session found the Velvelettes reduced to a trio after Betty Kelley had left and Mildred Gill was on maternity leave, and Whitfield had the group devise its own background vocals. Released on Motown’s V.I.P. imprint, it became the Velvelettes’ breakthrough single and their first national hit. The song reached No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped establish Norman Whitfield as an important young Motown producer. The track remains the Velvelettes’ signature recording and a widely covered Motown girl-group staple. Its call-and-response arrangement and sharp backing-vocal hook kept it alive in soul-revival circles and on later reissues and compilations.