"The Loved One" is a song by Australian R&B, rock band The Loved Ones and was released in May 1966 as the debut single ahead of their extended play, Blueberry Hill, which appeared in December. The song also featured on their debut long play album, Magic Box, in October 1967. "The Loved One", which reached No. 2 on the Australian Top 40 singles charts in 1966.

The Loved Ones were formed in Melbourne in 1965 by Gerry Humphrys, Ian Clyne and Kim Lynch. They had previously been members of a youthful trad jazz band, The Red Onion Jazz Band, in which Humphrys and Lynch had played clarinet and tuba respectively. They recruited drummer Gavin Anderson and ex-Wild Cherries guitarist Rob Lovett. The band were renowned as an exciting, if erratic, live act in a Stones–Animals mould and quickly rose to prominence in the local club and dance scene.

The group's visual impact was heightened by their striking mod stage attire and the band had a strong focal point thanks to the charismatic stage presence, saturnine good looks and growling, blues-influenced baritone voice of Humphrys, who is widely acknowledged as one of Australia's finest male pop-rock vocalists. The Loved Ones were one of the first Australian rock bands to use electric piano as part of their regular stage set-up and their distinctive keyboard-based sound set them apart from most of their contemporaries.

They signed to the In Records label (a subsidiary of W&G Records) early in 1966. They shot to national prominence, scoring a major Australian hit with "The Loved One", which reached No. 2 on the Australian Top 40 singles charts in May. "Ever Lovin' Man", was issued in July and reached No. 9. A reworking of Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill" appeared on their first extended play, Blueberry Hill, in December—together with the two previous singles. "Sad Dark Eyes" followed in January 1967. Each release captured an emotional intensity and musical inventiveness which marked them out from their peers.

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