Strawberry Letter 23

George Johnson, of the Brothers Johnson, was dating one of Otis's cousins when he came across the 1971 album Freedom Flight. The group recorded "Strawberry Letter 23" for their 1977 album Right on Time, which was produced by Quincy Jones, and the album went platinum. Their rendition hit the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number five and reached number one on the Soul Singles chart in 1977.[2] Studio guitar player Lee Ritenour recreated Otis' original guitar solo for the Brothers Johnson cover. The 12" single was pressed on red strawberry-scented vinyl. The 7" single was originally released in a strawberry-scented sleeve.

The song's chorus says "Strawberry Letter 22" instead of the actual title of the song. This is because the premise of the song is that a couple is exchanging love letters in musical form. The singer is creating "Strawberry Letter 23" as a reply to the song he has received from his lover, and he refers to her previous message as "Strawberry Letter 22" when replying.

Pitchfork chose the Brothers Johnson version as the 134th best song of the 1970s.[11]

"Strawberry Letter 23"
Single by Tevin Campbell
from the album T.E.V.I.N.
Released	May 14, 1992
Recorded	1991
Genre	R&B, new jack swing
Length	4:07
Label	Qwest/Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)	Shuggie Otis
Producer(s)	Quincy Jones
Tevin Campbell singles chronology
"Goodbye" (1992) "Strawberry Letter 23" (1992) "Alone with You" (1992)

"Strawberry Letter 23" is the fifth single from R&B singer Tevin Campbell's 1992 debut studio album T.E.V.I.N.. It peaked at #53 on the Hot 100 and #40 on the R&B charts.[12] The Tevin Campbell version is more up-tempo, with a new jack swing beat, and includes a rap that mentions "the letter 23."

• An instrumental version was done by Phil Upchurch on his 1978 album Phil Upchurch around the same time as the Brothers Johnson version, which is a more upbeat funky version.[13]
• The Scottish band Pop Wallpaper released Strawberry Letter 23, "remodelled /.../ for the dance floor", as a single in 1986, with Audrey Redpath on vocals.[14]
• The short-lived R&B duo Kiara included a cover version of the song on its 1988 album To Change and/or Make a Difference, which peaked at #23 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart.
• Digital Underground did a hip hop version in the early 1990s and it is included on their 1999 album The Lost Files.[15]
• Quincy Jones, who produced the Brothers Johnson's version, covered the song himself, with singer Akon, on the album Q: Soul Bossa Nostra (2010).
• Saxophonist Jessy J covered the song on her album My One and Only One (2015).
• Malaysian singer Yuna recorded the song for a commercial for Swedish fashion retailer H&M starring Ukrainian-Canadian model Daria Werbowy that aired in March 2015.
• In June 2015, Faith No More covered a large portion of the song during an interlude during "Midlife Crisis" at the Pinkpop festival and also at Download Festival.
• On July 22, 2017, Phish covered the song during its "Baker's Dozen"[16] run of shows at Madison Square Garden,[17] during the "Strawberry" themed night of that run. The song made its second appearance during the band's Fall 2018 Tour run at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia, and it was performed again during Phish's Summer 2019 Tour at the BB&T Pavilion in New Jersey, as well as December 6, 2019 in Charleston, SC.