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After Where Did Our Love Go became a smash in 1964, Berry Gordy told Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland to deliver a follow-up for the Supremes that deliberately sounded like it. Baby Love kept Diana Ross’s breathy cooing and the baby-baby backing vocals of Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson, while the writers worked on texture. In Studio A the Funk Brothers supplied James Jamerson’s melodic bass, a baritone saxophone solo from Mike Terry and Jack Ashford’s vibraphone, and teenager Mike Valvano stomped on the wooden floorboards for the beat.

Released in September 1964, Baby Love reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late October and held it for four weeks, also topping the Cash Box R&B chart. It made the Supremes the first Motown act with more than one U.S. No. 1 and was the second of five straight chart-toppers. In Britain it held No. 1 for two weeks until the Rolling Stones’ Little Red Rooster replaced it. It was nominated for a 1965 Grammy for best rhythm and blues recording but lost to Nancy Wilson’s How Glad I Am.

• Ballard and Wilson sing brief solo ad-libs near the end, before Ross became the sole voice on the group’s 1960s singles.
• From 1963 to 1965 only Baby Love and two Roy Orbison records were American singles to top the UK chart.
• Rolling Stone ranked it No. 324 among the 500 greatest songs, then No. 499 in the 2021 update.
• It is certified gold in the U.S. and platinum in the UK, and appears on the 1975 Cooley High soundtrack.
• Honey Bane took a cover onto the UK chart in 1981, and Yugoslav singer Bebi Dol released a synth-pop version in 1986.