RIP: Frank Wilson Motown Writer, Producer

Motown's Frank Wilson wrote and produced hit records for such big names as the Supremes and the Temptations, but he was best known for a single recorded in Los Angeles that featured his own voice — and was never released.

Copies of his "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" had already been pressed in 1965 when Motown founder Berry Gordy asked him to choose between being a performer or writer-producer, Wilson's family said. When he decided on the latter, almost all of the singles were destroyed.

After the record mysteriously jumped across the Atlantic in the 1970s, it became an underground sensation in Britain and a prized collectible: A rare copy of "Do I Love You" sold in 2009 for $39,294, making it the most expensive music single sold at auction, according to Guinness World Records.

Wilson, who left Motown in the late 1970s to become a minister, died Thursday at City of Hope in Duarte. The Pasadena resident was 71, according to a story at LATimes.com.

The cause was complications from a lung infection, said a daughter, Tracey Stein. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer several years ago.

He joined Motown in 1964 soon after the Detroit-based record label opened a West Coast office in Los Angeles and helped produce a hit that year for Stevie Wonder, "Castles in the Sand."

The long list of popular songs that Wilson either wrote or co-wrote includes the 1968 hits "Love Child" for Diana Ross and the Supremes, "Chained" for Marvin Gaye and "All I Need" for the Temptations. After Eddie Kendricks left the Temptations, Wilson produced "Keep On Truckin' (Part 1)," which reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts in 1973.

Wilson also helped write "You've Made Me So Very Happy," a 1967 Top 40 single for Motown's Brenda Holloway that soon became an even bigger hit for Blood, Sweat and Tears.

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