"Tell Him" is a song written by Bert Berns that was first recorded as "Tell Her" in 1962 by Gil Hamilton aka Johnny Thunder with Berns producing. "Tell Her" was also a single for Ed Townsend before Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller produced the version by the Exciters released — as "Tell Him" — in October 1962. "Tell Him" reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 26 January 1963. A #5 R&B hit, "Tell Him" was #1 in France for two weeks and reached #5 in Australia.
In the UK the single peaked at #46 bested by a cover by Billie Davis, who took the song to #10. Another UK cover version by Alma Cogan did not chart in the UK but became the singer's breakout hit in Sweden with a #10 peak: Cogan would subsequently have the greatest chart impact of her latterday career on the Swedish charts with #1 hits in both 1964 and 1965 with respectively "Tennessee Waltz" and "The Birds and the Bees". In the Netherlands the Exciters, Billie Davis and Alma Cogan singles of "Tell Him" charted in tandem with a #17 peak. Cogan also recorded five alternate versions of "Tell Him" with her vocal being respectively in German, Japanese, Italian, Spanish and French: her French rendition of "Tell Him" reached #53 in France, where the Exciters version reached #1 there.
Dusty Springfield was on a stop-over in New York City en route to Nashville to make a country music album with The Springfields in 1962, when she heard the Exciters' "Tell Him" playing while taking a late night walk by the Colony Record Store on Broadway: the experience persuaded Springfield to embark on a solo career with a Pop/Soul direction. She would recall: "The Exciters sort of got you by the throat...out of the blue comes blasting at you “I know something about love”, and that’s it. That’s what I wanna do."
"Tell Him" had its highest UK charting — #6 — via a 1974 remake by Hello whose producer Mike Leander had cut an earlier version with the Glitter Band which he felt could be improved upon. Hello's "Tell Him" also hit #32 in Germany.. "Tell Him" would return to the UK charts in 1996 when Caroline Quentin and Leslie Ash who co-starred in the series Men Behaving Badly hit #25 with their remake credited to Quentin and Ash.
In the US "Tell Him" has reappeared on the Hot 100 twice both times as "Tell Her": in 1966 by Dean Parrish (#97) and in 1989 by Kenny Loggins (#76).
"Tell Him" has also been recorded by Sonny and Cher, Josie Cotton and Vonda Sheppard, whose version was heavily featured on the show Ally McBeal. Singer Laura Branigan also recorded the song in 1981 for her proposed debut album "Silver Dreams." The song was released as a single but did not chart and the album project was aborted.
Covered in 1963 as "Dis-lui" (literally "Tell Him") by French pop singer Claude François, reaching No.1 in French chart.
The same year, Ennio Morricone used the same orchestral intro for Italian singer-songwriter Gianni Meccia's song "Il pupazzo" ("The puppet").
In 1968 Katri Helena recorded the Finnish rendering "Sano hänelle niin" while an alternate Finnish rendering: ""Minun on hän", was recorded in 1978 by Gulliver.
The female regulars the TV show Living Single performed a comic version of this song.
Linda Ronstadt recorded a cover for her album "Get Closer" (1982).
In 1983, The Exciters' "Tell Him" was featured on the soundtrack for the film The Big Chill.
Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes covered the song for their 1984 television special "I Love the Chipmunks Valentine Special."
In 1984 in Bulgaria, Rositsa Kirilova, in collaboration with the Brothers Argirovi, recorded a disco version of "Tell Him" titled “Избрах нарочно вас” (I've Chosen You Intentionally). The track - whose Bulgarian lyrics are unconnected to the original English version - became a major dance floor hit.
In 1988, The Exciters' "Tell Him" was featured in the Canadian drama Something About Love.
In 1997, The Exciters' "Tell Him" was included on the soundtrack for the film "My Best Friend's Wedding."
In American Dreams, Nicole Richie portrayed Brenda Reid, the lead singer of the girl group The Exciters, and sang "Tell Him" in the show.
In 2007, Haley Scarnato performed this on the sixth season of American Idol.
In 2009, The Exciters' "Tell Him" was included on the soundtrack for the DreamWorks Animation film Monsters vs. Aliens.
In 2011, a parody of "Tell Him" was performed on Saturday Night Live in a malt shop setting.
In 2013, the television series Glee featured its version of "Tell Him" in the episode "Sadie Hawkins".