"Hello Stranger" was a 1963 hit single by Barbara Lewis which spent two weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart in Billboard crossing over to #3 Pop.  "Hello Stranger" was written by Barbara Lewis herself who was originally inspired to write a song with that title while working gigs in Detroit with her musician father: “I would make the circuit with my dad and people would yell out: ‘Hey stranger, hello stranger, it’s been a long time’". Lewis recorded "Hello Stranger" at Chess Studios in Chicago in January 1963. The track’s producer Ollie McLaughlin recruited the Dells to provide the background vocals. The arrangement by Riley Hampton - then working with Etta James - featured a signature organ riff provided by keyboardist John Young. The track was completed after thirteen takes. Lewis would recall that on hearing the playback of the finished track, Dells member Chuck Barksdale "kept jumping up and down and saying, ‘It’s a hit, it’s a hit.’...I didn’t really know. It was all new to me.” "Hello Stranger" was remade in 1966 by the Capitols again with Ollie McLaughlin producing (McLaughlin recorded the Capitols on his Karen label after hearing the group perform at a local dance headlined by Barbara Lewis). "Hello Stranger" was also a 1969 single release by Darius before returning to the charts in 1973 when it became a regional hit for Fire & Rain. Fire & Rain were a folk rock duo comprising veteran Tucson musician Manny Freiser and Patti McCarron, Freiser's then-wife who sang lead; their version, which featured Michael Omartian on keyboards, was arranged by Ben Benay who also played guitar. Benay had also been guitarist on the version of "Hello Stranger" by Darius. The Supremes and The Four Tops recorded a duet version of the song in 1971 for their third duet album Dynamite!. Manny Freiser would recall: "Mercury [Records] released "Hello Stranger" as a single against our wishes. It became a legitimate hit at easy listening radi...