Wes Farrell
American musician, songwriter, and record producer (1939–1996)
Wesley Donald Farrell (December 21, 1939 – February 29, 1996) was an American musician, songwriter and record producer, who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s.
Career
Farrell was born in New York, United States. Farrell's catalogue includes close to 500 songs that he wrote, produced and/or published. One of his earliest successes, "Boys" (co-written with Luther Dixon), appeared on the B-side of the Shirelles' 1960 number-one hit "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", and in 1963 was covered by the Beatles for their debut album Please Please Me. Farrell's biggest chart hit as a composer – the McCoys' 1965 US number one "Hang On Sloopy" (a reworking of "My Girl Sloopy", co-written with Bert Russell) – remains one of the most performed songs in the history of popular music, according to the RIAA. In 1985, Hang On Sloopy became the official state rock song of the State of Ohio.
Other Farrell pop hits include the Animals' UK debut single "Baby Let Me Take You Home" (co-written with Bert Russell; no. 21, 1964) and two 1964 releases for Jay and the Americans: "Come a Little Bit Closer" (co-written with songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart; US no. 3) and "Let's Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key)" (with Roy Alfred; US no 11 in early 1965). Farrell also co-wrote "Come and Take a Ride in My Boat" (with Jerry Goldstein), slightly reworked in 1967 to provide Every Mother's Son with their signature hit "Come on Down to My Boat" (US no. 6).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Wes Farrell” as american musician, songwriter, and record producer (1939–1996). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american musician, songwriter, and record producer (1939–1996). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2563720. VIAF identifies the subject as 74119262. The Library of Congress control number is no2017095544. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939, 1996, 1960 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “Wes Farrell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.