Don't Leave Me This Way

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Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Don't Leave Me This Way ( Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes )
  DE 44 04/25/1977 (1 week)
  UK 5 01/22/1977 (10 weeks)
Don't Leave Me This Way ( Thelma Houston )
  DE 5 07.03.1977 (23 weeks)
  AT 18th 06/15/1977 (8 weeks)
  UK 13 02/05/1977 (10 weeks)
  US 1 December 18, 1976 (24 weeks)
Don't Leave Me This Way ( The Communards with Sarah Jane Morris)
  DE 5 09/29/1986 (17 weeks)
  AT 19th 11/01/1986 (8 weeks)
  CH 2 10/23/1986 (14 weeks)
  UK 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 08/23/1986 (16 weeks)
  US 40 12/27/1986 (13 weeks)
Don't Leave Me This Way (Thelma Houston)
  UK 35 01/21/1995 (2 weeks)

Don't Leave Me This Way is a 1975 disco song by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes written by Kenny Gamble , Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert and produced by the former. Originally the song was a bonus track from the album Wake Up Everybody , but due to the success of Thelma Houston's version , Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes decided to release it as a single and were still subject to the success of the cover.

Cover version by Thelma Houston

In 1976, Thelma Houston released her version of the song, which appeared on the album Any Way You Like It and is the soundtrack of the film In Search of Mr. Goodbar . According to the label boss Berry Gordy of Motown Records , the recording of the cover was originally planned with Diana Ross . James Gadson (drummer), Henry E. Davis (bass guitar) and John Barnes (keyboardist) were hired as studio musicians. The release was on December 2, 1976 in the United States and South Africa, the disco song became a number one hit.

After the album Any Way You Like It came into circulation, a record pool version of the song was released, which was particularly popular in discos . At the 1990 Grammy Awards , Houston won the song in the " Best Female Vocal Performance - R&B " category . During the 1980s and 1990s, the Houston version became the unofficial theme song for those infected with HIV on the gay scene in the United States. In 1994 an art exhibition was opened at the National Gallery of Australia entitled Don't Leave Me This Way - Art in the AIDS Age , and a 246-page treatise followed. In 1995 a remix of the cover was released, which became a Top 40 hit in the UK.

Cover version of the Communards

In 1986 the Communards recorded another version of the song, which can be found on the Communards album and was awarded a gold record in the UK . Sarah Jane Morris could be won as a guest singer. According to a UK poll in 2015, the cover was ranked # 16 of the UK's favorite songs of the 1980s on ITV . For the dissolution of the Greater London Council in Great Britain, the cover was used as a farewell anthem. The piece was released in August 1986 and was a number one hit in the UK, Ireland , the Netherlands and Belgium .

More cover versions

Individual evidence

  1. Sources chart placements: DE UK / Thelma Houston: AT US / Communards: AT CH US , accessed on January 5, 2017.
  2. Read up on Allmusic.com
  3. Read up on Soulfuldetroit.com
  4. Read up on Independent.co.uk