The group was formed in 1958 at Marshall High School in Chicago , Illinois with a line-up of Curt Thomas ( lead ) , Larry Johnson ( first tenor ) , Jesse Bolian ( second tenor ; June 8 , 1941 &ndash; August 24 , 1994 ) and Aaron Floyd ( baritone bass ) . In 1960 Thomas left and was replaced by lead singer Robert Dobyne . The group performed at the 1960 Democratic National Convention , and began singing backup for Major Lance , including on his record " Monkey Time " . Record producer Carl Davis signed the group to OKeh Records in 1963 , but their early records were not successful . Dobyne left in 1964 , later writing for The Temptations and recording for Motown though his recordings were not released at the time . Lead singer duties for the Artistics were taken over first by Charles Davis , previously of The Dukays , and then by Marvin Smith ( born October 8 , 1940 , Palestine , Arkansas ) , previously of The El Dorados . They had their first local hit with " Get My Hands On Some Lovin ' " , co-written and first recorded by Marvin Gaye , and followed it up with the more successful " This Heart of Mine " , written by Barrett Strong . The single reached no. 25 on the '' Billboard '' R&B chart following its release in late 1965 . The group released an LP , '' Get My Hands on Some Lovin ' '' ( 1966 ) , with several tracks written by Strong , but their next two singles for OKeh were unsuccessful , and they moved to Brunswick Records where Carl Davis had become A&R Director . Their first record on the label was " I 'm Gon na Miss You " , written by Smith , Bolian and Johnson of the group and produced by Davis , which rose to no. 9 on the R&B chart and no. 55 on the pop chart at the end of 1966 . Marvin Smith left the group for a solo career before the record made the charts , and was replaced by Tommy Green . Smith continued to collaborate on writing material , and sang on some of the group 's records until 1970 . The group 's next single , " Girl I Need You " , with Green on lead vocal , was also a minor hit , and the group recorded an LP , '' I 'm Gon na Miss You '' . Several further singles on Brunswick were less successful , but they recorded two further albums , '' The Articulate Artistics '' ( 1968 ) and '' What Happened '' ( 1969 ) , produced by Carl Davis with Eugene Record who also wrote some of their material . The albums are now regarded as high points of Chicago R&B recordings of the period and their tracks are highly regarded by fans of Northern soul . The group 's last chart record was " Make My Life Over " in 1971 , with Fred Pettis replacing Green on lead vocal . The group left Brunswick in 1973 , and split up soon afterwards
1960 Democratic National Convention
1960 Democratic National Convention
The Artistics