"The Boy from New York City" is a song originally recorded by the American soul group The Ad Libs,[2] released as their first single in 1964.
Produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song peaked at No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the chart week of February 27, 1965. Though the group continued to record many other singles, they would never repeat the chart success of "The Boy from New York City". According to Artie Butler, the track was recorded at A&R Studios in New York, in three separate sessions. The first session was to lay down the rhythm section, then the next session was for the lead and backup vocals, with the last session was just for the horns.
"To have a hit like that you need a great song. We thought 'Boy from New York City' had a second shot [at success] in it & it did. It's one of those perfect sing-a-long songs. People love to sing it & the key to that song is the bassline at the beginning...that grabs the listener. That song swings."[7]
^Scaping, Peter, ed. (1979). "Top 200 Singles in 1978". BPI Year Book 1979 (4th ed.). London, England: The British Phonographic Industry Ltd. pp. 186–89. ISBN0-906154-02-2.
^Scaping, Peter, ed. (1979). "Top 200 Singles in 1978". BPI Year Book 1979 (4th ed.). London, England: The British Phonographic Industry Ltd. pp. 186–89. ISBN0-906154-02-2.