The Dixie Cups were using the name The Mel-tones when they recorded this. They were a trio from New Orleans, the sisters Barbara and Rosa Hawkins and cousin Marie Johnson. Their manager had brought them to New York to sing for the famous songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller. Mike Stoller changed their name, since Mel Tormé called his backing singers the Mel-tones. Since the girls were from the south, he figured “dixie” was appropriate, and he also had fond memories of eating dixie cup ice cream.

Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich wrote this song for Phil Spector to produce. Jeff and Ellie were a popular songwriting team who wrote several hit songs in the sixties and had been married the year before they wrote this. Barry wrote the lyrics with marriage on his mind, then Greenwich worked out the chord progression on a piano in their New York City apartment.

The song was intended (appropriately) for Darlene Love, and she recorded the first version, with Spector producing as intended. Darlene, with her powerful voice, was a highly sought-after vocalist and managed to work with many of the legends of 1950s and 1960s rock and soul, including Sam Cooke, Dionne Warwick, Bill Medley, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Sonny and Cher.

Spector wasn’t happy with this recording, so he tried it with The Ronettes, who a year earlier had their biggest hit with “Be My Baby”, also written by Barry and Greenwich. These renditions were never released, as Barry and Greenwich made a deal with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who had recently formed Red Bird Records with industry heavyweight George Goldner.

With Leiber and Stoller producing, The Dixie Cups recorded the song, which was the first release on Red Bird Records. Phil Spector was furious with Barry and Greenwich for beating him to the market with the song and took it as an act of betrayal, although he did get a songwriting credit, which was something he demanded when working with songwriters. He didn’t hold the grudge: Spector teamed up with Barry and Greenwich again for the 1966 Ike and Tina Turner track “River Deep – Mountain High.”

This being a song about a wedding, there had to be some bells, especially for the line, “Bells will ring, the sun will shine.” Leiber and Stoller hadn’t planned for this, but they got lucky: a set of chimes was left in the studio from a previous session. Mike Stoller tried to play them, but he wasn’t very good at it. They got another lucky break when their friend Artie Butler, who played percussion, came by. He competently struck the chimes, which come in at the second chorus and remain relatively subtle.

In 1972, Bette Midler released a version produced by Barry Manilow on her first album. Another popular cover is by The Beach Boys, who included it on their 1976 album “15 Big Ones”.

The Dixie Cups “Chapel Of Love” was ranked #279 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, being the group’s only song on the list. Billboard named the song #33 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.

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