It was common knowledge back in ’68 that group members Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. were engaged, making the “Marry me Bill” theme of the song accurate…but only on the surface…. because Billy Davis wasn’t the real “Bill!”

“Wedding Bell Blues” was written by the extremely talented Laura Nyro…when she was  just 18-years-old.

It wasn’t autobiographical…but there were some definite family ties involved. 

According to Laura’s cousin  Alan Merrill, his mom (Laura’s Aunt) was having a passionate and public affair with an actor named Bill Carter, who was married to an heiress. The resulting newspaper scandal was so huge, the Merrills left the country to live in Europe.

But back to the song: Laura’s”s original version of Wedding Bell Blues” stalled out at #103–just below the Hot 100…but The Fifth Dimension’s cover version TOPPED the Hot 100 AND Adult Contemporary Charts. “Wedding Bell Blues” was a Great Song of 1968…and now–as Paul Harvey would say: ” you know the rest of the story!”