{{Short description|1945 single by Billie Holiday}} {{About|the song sung by Billie Holiday|the Jimi Hendrix song |Lover Man (Jimi Hendrix song)|other uses|Lover Man (disambiguation)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox song | name = Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) | cover = | type = Single | artist = Billie Holiday | B-side = That Ole Devil Called Love | written = | released = {{Start date|1945}} | recorded = October 4, 1944, and November 8, 1944 | studio = | genre = {{hlist|Jazz|pop}} | length = | label = Decca | writer = Jimmy Davis, Roger ("Ram") Ramirez, and James Sherman | composer = | lyricist = | producer = | prev_title = Trav'lin' Light | prev_year = 1942 | title = | next_title = Don't Explain | next_year = 1946 }}
"'''Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)'''" (often called simply "'''Lover Man'''") is a 1941 popular song written by Jimmy Davis, Roger ("Ram") Ramirez, and James Sherman. It is particularly associated with Billie Holiday, for whom it was written, and her version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1989.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame#l|title=GRAMMY Hall Of Fame|publisher=GRAMMY.org|access-date=May 21, 2014}}</ref>
Holiday's version reached No. 5 on the R&B chart and No. 16 on pop in 1945.<ref>[http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/billie-holiday "Billie Holiday"], Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528074755/http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/billie-holiday |date=May 28, 2014 }}.</ref> In July 1946, Charlie Parker recorded a rendition of "Lover Man" while he was intoxicated. Dial Records producer Ross Russell had to hold him up to the microphone during the recording.<ref name="fordham">{{Cite news |first=John |last=Fordham |author-link=John Fordham (jazz critic)|title=50 great moments in jazz: Charlie Parker teams up with Ross Russell | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/sep/24/jazz-charlie-parker-ross-russell | newspaper=The Guardian | date=September 24, 2009 | access-date=February 2, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="standards">{{cite book |last1=Gioia |author-link=Ted Gioia|first1=Ted |title=The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-19-993739-4 |pages=245–247}}</ref> Sonny Stitt played the song many times on alto saxophone in a virtuoso way, in the original key of D flat. Most jazz musicians, nevertheless, play the song in the key of F. Barbra Streisand recorded a version for her album ''Simply Streisand'' in 1967, and her version peaked at No. 29 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart.<ref name="AC">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/barbra-streisand/chart-history/asi/|title=Barbra Streisand Chart History: Adult Contemporary|magazine=Billboard|access-date=November 17, 2019}}</ref>
==Cover versions== *Sarah Vaughan recorded the song for the Guild label in 1945, with backing by an instrumental ensemble that included trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker. Other singers that have covered the song have included June Christy, Rosemary Clooney, Chris Connor, Shirley Horn, Lena Horne, Etta James, Patti LaBelle, Julie London, Carmen McRae, Maria Muldaur, Della Reese, Linda Ronstadt, Diana Ross, and the Communards. After dominating the 1992 Billboard Music Awards with four nominations, Whitney Houston sang a medley starting with "Lover Man". *Charlie Parker recorded an instrumental version of the song himself in 1946 but he was intoxicated with alcohol during the session, and he was angry when he learned his producer, Ross Russell, released the song despite its flaws. Other saxophone jazzmen who have covered the song include Sonny Stitt, Phil Woods, Cannonball Adderley, Don Byas, Art Pepper, Charles McPherson, Grover Washington Jr., Wardell Gray, and an extended duet between Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins. Jazz critic Ted Gioia named a version by alto player Lee Konitz backed by Stan Kenton as the best interpretation, balancing the song's emotional aspects with the intellectual quest of jazz.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gioia |first=Ted |author-link=Ted Gioia |date=2021 |title=The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire |page=274 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190087173}}</ref> * The trombonist J. J. Johnson recorded a version of this song with Clifford Brown in 1953, which can be heard both on the EP ''Jay Jay Johnson with Clifford Brown'' [BLP 5028] (Blue Note) of the same year, and the compilation album from 1956 ''The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 1'' [BLP 1505] (Blue Note) *Crystal Gayle recorded a version of this song and it’s appears on her 1981 album These Days.
==Charts== {| class="wikitable" |- !Chart (1945) !Peak<br>position |- |US Rhythm & Blues Records | style="text-align:center;"|5 |- |US ''Cash Box'' Top 100 | style="text-align:center;"|16 |- !Chart (1967) !Peak<br>position |- ||US ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary | style="text-align:center;"|29 |}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-0/loverman.htm "Lover Man..." at jazzstandards.com]
{{Billie Holiday}} {{Jimmy Somerville}}
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Category:1941 songs Category:1940s jazz standards Category:Billie Holiday songs Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Category:Jazz compositions in B-flat minor