Joan Weber

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Joan Weber (December 12, 1935 – May 13, 1981)  was an American popular music singer.

Weber was raised in Paulsboro, New Jersey and married to a young bandleader. She was pregnant in 1954 when she was introduced to Eddie Joy, a manager, who in turn introduced her to Charles Randolph Grean, an A&R worker for RCA and Dot Records in New York.

Grean gave a demo of Weber's singing a song called "Marionette" to Mitch Miller, the head of artists and repertoire at Columbia Records. Miller took a song entitled "Let Me Go, Devil" and had it rewritten by Jenny Lou Carson and Al Hill as "Let Me Go, Lover!" for Weber, who recorded it on the Columbia label (with "Marionette" as the B-side). The song was performed on the television show, Studio One and caught the public's fancy, reaching #1 in the United States and #16 in the United Kingdom in 1955.  It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.  "Let Me Go, Lover!" ascended to #1 on the Billboard Most Played by Jockeys chart on January 1, 1955, the date that the rock and roll era began, according to music historians such as Joel Whitburn.

At the time of the song's biggest success, however, she gave birth to a baby daughter Terry Lynn, and was unable to promote her career. Weber's next single, "Lover Lover (Why Must We Part) (b/w "Tell The Lord", Columbia 40474), released later in 1954, failed to dent the record charts. (Mitch Miller, in a 2004 interview for the Archive of American Television, recalled that Weber's husband assumed total control of the singer's activities, thus depriving Weber of experienced career guidance.) After three more non-hits, "Call Me Careless", "Goodbye Lollipops, Hello Lipstick" and the appropriately-titled "Gone", Joan was dropped from Columbia's roster.

During her final years, she lived a reclusive life, before moving to a mental institution. Columbia Records' efforts to send her royalty checks failed, as all her checks were returned to sender as "Address Unknown". For this reason, chart program American Top 40 ranked Weber at number one on a special program featuring the "Top 40 Disappearing Acts", which was broadcast in 1975.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hyLRbRCCLU

"Let Me Go, Lover!", a popular song, was written by Jenny Lou Carson and Al Hill,  a pseudonym used by Fred Wise, Kathleen Twomey, and Ben Weisman. It is based on an earlier song called "Let Me Go, Devil", about alcoholism. It was featured on the television program Studio One on November 15, 1954, and caught the fancy of the public.

Joan Weber sang the song on the TV production and was pregnant at the time. A result of the program was to illustrate how efficiently a song could be promoted by introducing it to the public via radio or a TV production. The recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 40366. Mitch Miller stocked national record stores the week before the program and because of its availability the record sold over 100,000 the first week of its release. It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on December 4, 1954. By January 1955, Weber's record of the song had hit No. 1 on all the Billboard charts (the Disk Jockey chart, the Best Seller chart, and the Juke Box chart).  The song reached No. 16 in the UK Singles Chart, and was awarded a gold record.

It was also quickly covered by a number of other singers. One artist to "cover" it was Lucille Ball, in the March 18, 1955 episode of I Love Lucy, entitled "Bull Fight Dance".

Among the cover versions was one by Patti Page. This recording was released by Mercury Records as catalog number 70511. It first reached the Billboard charts on December 18, 1954. On the Disk Jockey chart, it peaked at No. 8; on the Best Seller chart, at No. 24; on the Juke Box chart, at No. 12.

Another cover, by Teresa Brewer and The Lancers, was recorded on November 18, 1954, and released by Coral Records as catalog number 61315. It reached No. 6 on the Billboard chart and No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart.

Peggy Lee also released the song in 1954, reaching No. 26. On the Cash Box Best-Selling Records chart, all the versions were combined, and the song was also a No. 1 hit on that chart.

Hank Snow's version ("Let Me Go, Woman") went to No. 1 on the country music charts in 1955.

Dean Martin had the song released as a single in 1955, reaching No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart.

In March 1955, Ruby Murray reached 5 in the UK Singles Chart with her version.

Kathy Kirby's version of the song went to No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart in 1964.

It was also covered by Billy Fury, and turned out to one of the last songs he recorded before his death in 1983.