Ivy Jo Hunter

George Ivy Hunter (born August 28, 1940), known as Ivy Jo Hunter and sometimes credited as Ivy Hunter, is a former R&B songwriter, record producer and singer, most associated with his work for Motown in the 1960s.

Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Hunter was trained in orchestral music — primarily trumpet and keyboards. After a stint in the United States Army, Hunter began performing as a singer in the proto-soul venues around Detroit, where he became friends with songwriter Hank Cosby. Cosby introduced him to Motown's first A&R man, William "Mickey" Stevenson. He played keyboards on Motown sessions before Stevenson began working with him as a songwriter. He became a principal in the Motown Records house band and began to write some of the most significant hits of the early Motown years, as The Spinners' "Truly Yours" and "Sweet Thing", The Temptations' "Sorry Is a Sorry Word", The Isley Brothers' "Behind a Painted Smile" and "My Love Is Your Love (Forever)", and "Ask the Lonely" and "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" for the Four Tops. With Marvin Gaye and Stevenson, he cowrote the Martha and the Vandellas hit "Dancing in the Street" which, in the fall of 1964, provided an American counterpart to the British Invasion. Hunter also produced and wrote songs for Motown artists like The Velvelettes (their single "That's a Funny Way"), The Contours (their 1964 hit, "Can You Jerk Like Me"), The Marvelettes (their hits "Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead" and "I'll Keep Holding On"), Gladys Knight and The Pips (the album track "The Stranger") and Gaye, for whom he produced the Top 40 hit single "You" in 1968.

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