Love Child (song)
| "Love Child" | ||||||||||||||
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| Single by Diana Ross & the Supremes | ||||||||||||||
| from the album Love Child | ||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Will This Be the Day" | |||||||||||||
| Released | September 30, 1968 | |||||||||||||
| Format | Vinyl record (7" 45 RPM) | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); September 17, September 19, and September 20, 1968 | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Pop, psychedelic soul | |||||||||||||
| Length | 3:03 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Motown M 1135 |
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| Writer(s) | R. Dean Taylor, Frank Wilson, Pam Sawyer, Deke Richards | |||||||||||||
| Producer | The Clan (R. Dean Taylor, Frank Wilson, Pam Sawyer, Deke Richards, Henry Cosby) |
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| Diana Ross & the Supremes singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"Love Child" is a 1968 song released by the Motown label for Diana Ross & the Supremes, becoming the Supremes' 11th number-one single in the United States.
The song became the number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart for two weeks, from November 30, 1968 through December 14, 1968[1][2] and reached number two on the soul chart for three weeks. "Love Child" is notable for its-then controversial subject matter of illegitimacy.[3] It is also notable for knocking off and keeping The Beatles' massive "Hey Jude" off the top spot in the United States, the last of five replacements at number-one between the Beatles and Supremes, the two most popular music acts in America during the 1960s.[4] The Supremes debuted the song on the season premiere of the CBS variety program The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday, September 29, 1968.[5][6]
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Recording
In 1967, Diana Ross & the Supremes, having dropped Florence Ballard, acquired new member Cindy Birdsong, added Ross' name to the billing. Following this string of changes, the Supremes had mixed success on the pop charts. "Reflections" peaked at number 2 on the Billboard pop charts and "In and out of Love" peaked at 9, but the group's next two singles did not make the pop top twenty.
This prompted Motown label chief Berry Gordy to hold a special meeting in a room at the Pontchartrain Hotel in Detroit, which was attended by a team of writers and producers at the label, including R. Dean Taylor, Frank Wilson, Pam Sawyer, Deke Richards, and Henry Cosby. The group, who named themselves The Clan, set to work on a hit single for Diana Ross & the Supremes. Instead of composing another love-based song, the team decided to craft a tune about a woman who is asking her boyfriend not to pressure her into sleeping with him, for fear they would conceive a "love child." The woman, portrayed on the record by Diana Ross, is herself a love child, and, besides not having a father at home, had to endure wearing rags to school and growing up in an "old, cold, run-down tenement slum." The background vocals echo this sentiment, asking the boyfriend to please "wait/wait won't you wait now/hold on/wait/just a little bit longer."
As was often the case with many of the records released under the "Diana Ross & the Supremes" name, Supremes members Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong do not appear on the record; Motown session singers The Andantes performed the background vocals. All lead vocals were by Diana Ross, who would leave the group in a year for a solo career.
[edit] Reaction and response
The public responded immediately to "Love Child" when it was released as a single on September 30, 1968, rising to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and outselling all of the group's previous or subsequent singles. The feat was repeated in Canada, where it also reached number one in the RPM 100 national singles chart.[7] In the UK singles chart, the song peaked at number 15, and number three in Australia. "Love Child" became the title track of Diana Ross & the Supremes' Love Child album, released on November 13, 1968.
[edit] Personnel
- Lead vocals by Diana Ross
- Background vocals by The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps
- Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
- Arranged by Paul Riser
[edit] Chart history
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard R&B Singles Chart | 2 |
| Canadian RPM 100 | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 15 |
| MegaCharts | 19 |
[edit] Track listing
- 7" single (30 September 1968) (North America/United Kingdom)
- "Love Child" – 2:59
- "Will This Be the Day" – 2:50
- 7" single (1968) (Netherlands)
- "Love Child" – 2:59
- "Misery Makes Its Home in My Heart " – 2:52
[edit] Cover versions
The song was covered by Sweet Sensation and peaked at #13 in May 1990 on the Billboard Hot 100[8] and later by the rock group Broadzilla. It was also covered by Jamie Dean, La Toya Jackson, and sampled by her sister Janet in her 1994 single "You Want This." It was also covered by Booker T. & The MG's on their album "The Booker T. Set".
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Chin, Brian and Nathan, David (2000). "Reflections Of..." The Supremes [CD Box Set]. New York: Motown Record Co./Universal Music.
- Posner, Gerald (2002). Motown : Music, Money, Sex, and Power. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50062-6.
- Wilson, Mary and Romanowski, Patricia (1986, 1990, 2000). Dreamgirl & Supreme Faith: My Life as a Supreme. New York: Cooper Square Publishers. ISBN 0-8154-1000-X.
[edit] References
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard (Nielsen Company) 80 (48): 90. 1968. http://books.google.com/books?id=G0UEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=RA1-PA90#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard (Nielsen Company) 80 (49): 60. 1968. http://books.google.com/books?id=oyIEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
- ^ Show 50 - The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit. [Part 6] : UNT Digital Library
- ^ Billboard Hot 100 #1 Songs (1960 - 1969), http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_billbord2.html, retrieved 30 January 2010
- ^ Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, page 248. Billboard Books, 2003.
- ^ "Jefferson Airplane, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Red Skelton". The Ed Sullivan Show. CBS. WCBS, New York City. 29 September 1968. No. 1, season 22.
- ^ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.5830&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=25q34bgck2obn02l8qiut07601
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/#/song/sweet-sensation/love-child/371384
| Preceded by "Hey Jude" by The Beatles |
US Billboard Hot 100 number one single November 30, 1968 (two weeks) |
Succeeded by "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye |
| Preceded by "Abraham, Martin and John" by Dion |
Canadian RPM 100 number-one single December 12, 1968 (two weeks) |
Succeeded by "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell |
