Country Corner

Billboard Magazine, November 6, 1993

By: Lynn Shults

It has taken 11 years for "Does He Love You" by Reba McEntire and Linda Davis to reach the top of the charts. The track was produced by Tony Brown and McEntire, and was written by Sandy Knox and Billy Stritch in 1982. Stritch had a cabaret-type act called Montgomery, Plant & Stritch. Knox and Stritch sometimes would write songs for the act. Of "Does He Love You," Knox says, "The act was Billy and these two girls. Billy wanted a song for the two girls to sing. There were no female duets per se, so we wrote the song for them. They performed the song for eight years. Billy said he always knew that someday it would be a hit, because nightly he saw the reaction to the song." The song came close to being recorded during that time. Knox says, "Over the years, the song had been placed on hold by a variety of artists, including Barbara Mandrell; Tony Bennett, who wanted to do a male version the Frank Sinatra; and, last year, Liza Minnelli was talking about doing it with a real pop-artist." But it was McEntire who finally connected with the song. And when she heard it she moved quickly. Knox says, "I think she heard it at the end of May, cut in on June 9, and released it on Aug. 9." It was Mike Sebastian, who works at McEntire's publishing company, who thought of the song. He used to work at New Clarion Music, which had Stritch's half of the song, and, as Knox tells it, "[McEntire] made a comment to Mike that she would love to find female duet for her and Linda. And Mike said, 'I know where one is.' "