Beverly Bivens
We Five's first single, from their debut album of the same name, was a reworked version of Sylvia Tyson's song "You Were On My Mind". It became one of the first folk-rock hits, reaching number three in the "Billboard" "Hot 100" in August 1965. Tyson (then Sylvia Fricker) says that she was unaware that her song had been covered until she heard We Five's version on a car radio while driving on Highway 101 in California. One consequence of We Five's success was that Tyson's song, which, until then, had been unavailable in sheet form, was published by Witmark of New York, with a photograph of Bivens and We Five on the cover. However, with the so-called "British invasion" at its height, We Five's recording had only limited international success, having been covered reluctantly, though successfully, in Britain by Crispian St. Peters.
Beverly Bivens
On 2 October 1965, We Five performed "You Were on My Mind" live on the ABC television show "The Hollywood Palace", on which they were introduced by guest compère Fred Astaire. Video footage of this performance survives, as does that of appearances around the same time on the Jack Benny and Bob Hope shows and "Shivaree". There have been some claims that Bivens did not sing on the original studio recording of "You Were on My Mind" and that the female voice was that of another artist. However, most sources, including We Five's Jerry Burgan in his 2014 memoir, have rejected this suggestion.