The group responsible for “Love Potion No. 9” was the first to cover Elvis Presley’s “Bossa Nova Baby.” Elvis’ rendition of the song, though not the original, was a success. The original version of Elvis Presley’s “Bossa Nova Baby” was sung by a group that also sang one of the most well-known songs from the 1950s. The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll saved the tune from obscurity, according to a songwriter. Even though the song eventually became popular, it couldn’t save a failing record company. The group behind ‘Love Potion No. 9’ recorded Elvis Presley’s ‘Bossa Nova Baby. The songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller is well-known for penning Elvis songs including “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “She’s Not You.
” They also contributed to other successful songs, including the enduring smash “Love Potion No. 9” by The Clovers. In their autobiography Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography, published in 2009, Stoller talked about how their career developed. He remembered, “We established our own label, Tiger Records. This meant that in addition to producing and pressing our own records, we would also distribute them through independents. Leiber and Stoller thought that this responsibility was difficult. Despite this, we got The ‘Love Potion No. 9′ Clovers’ new lead singer, Roosevelt ‘Tippie’ Hubbard, to perform ‘Bossa Nova Baby,’ according to Stoller. “Billboard adored it and named it their ‘Pick of the Week,’ but the general public was unaware of it. We were unaware of the obnoxious commercial imperative of obtaining airplay. Both the single and our attempt to establish a label failed.
Stoller talked about Elvis’ version of the song. Elvis eventually put the song back on the charts by recording it for Fun in Acapulco, but of course, Elvis was signed to RCA, not Tiger, the man claimed. There wasn’t much left in Tiger’s tank due to our unstable finances, so we folded the label, he said. We revived Tiger and created a sister company, Daisy Records, less than a year later, damaged but unconquered.
How ‘Bossa Nova Baby’ did on the charts and what effect it had on a recent big movie On the Billboard Hot 100, “Bossa Nova Baby” peaked at No. 8. It spent a total of 10 weeks on the charts. The song was included on the Fun in Acapulco soundtrack CD. The soundtrack spent an impressive 24 weeks at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 list. Fun in Acapulco may have made more of an impact on popular culture with “Bossa Nova Baby” than any other Elvis Presley movie, possibly more so than Viva Las Vegas, Jailhouse Rock, or Blue Hawaii. Elvis: 2nd to None, a 2003 hits compilation, also included “Bossa Nova Baby” as a song. On the Billboard 200, that song peaked at No. 3 and remained there for 16 weeks. No Strings Attached, the Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman romantic comedy, had “Bossa Nova Baby” on the soundtrack. A mashup of the tune with the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” from Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis in 2022 also garnered media attention.
