#1096: Stephanie Knows Who by Love
Peak Month: November 1966
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Stephanie Knows Who”
Lyrics: “Stephanie Knows Who”
Arthur Lee was born in 1945 in Memphis, Tennessee. His dad was a local jazz cornet player Chester Taylor. In 1950 his parents separated and he moved with his mom to Los Angeles when he was five. His mother remarried to Clinton Lee and Arthur, as was the custom, also took on a new surname. In 1963 he began recording with his bands the LAG’s and Lee’s American Four. In 1964 Lee wrote a minor hit called “My Diary” for Rosa Lee Brooks. The tune featured Jimi Hendrix on guitar. When Lee attended a concert given by the Byrds, he made up his mind to form a group that joined the newly minted folk-rock sound of the Byrds to his primarily rhythm and blues style. His new band was initially called The Grass Roots. However, the band changed their name to Love when they discovered another group of called The Grass Roots appeared on Top 40 radio in the spring of 1966. The name was chosen by a live audience at a club one night over other suggestions including Poetic Justice and Asylum Choir and Dr. Strangelove. Other members of Love included Singer and guitarist Bryan MacLean, Lee’s elementary school chum and lead guitarist Johnny Echols, Alban “Snoopy” Pfisterer on drums and organ, Ken Forssi on bass, Tjay Contrelli on sax and flute and Michael Stuart on drums and percussion.