This was very much a Spinners song, and I'm sure that's where to start looking for more about the song and the writer, and the story behind it.

Here is a page about The Spinners.

And that page gives a link to Hughie Jones' homepage - he being the only one of the Spinners who is currently performing, and well worth looking out for. I imagine he'd very likely know.[quote]
Mick Groves is still peforming.