DEF: The California Raisins “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”

In the mid- to late 1980s, the California Raisin Advisory Board released a series of commercials featuring a group of claymation raisins singing classic hits. The musicians who provided the vocals and instrumental parts for the group released a series of albums as The California Raisins, and one of their songs hit Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. On this date in 1988, that song — a remake of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” — debuted at a peak position of number 84.