 The song was rejected by the Shirelles, the premier girl group of the early 1960s, and was first recorded in Los Angeles by Merry Clayton as her first credited single.Clayton had previously provided an uncredited female vocal to the hit "You're the Reason I'm Living" recorded by Bobby Darin as his debut on Capitol Records, and Darin had subsequently arranged for Clayton herself to be signed to Capitol.The composer of "It's in His Kiss", Rudy Clark, was a staff writer for TM Music which Darin headed.