"Three Times a Lady" is a 1978 single by the funk/soul band the Commodores, from their 1978 album Natural High. It was produced by James Anthony Carmichael and the Commodores and it was the most popular track of the album.
In an appearance on The Early Show on June 12, 2009, Lionel Richie said he was inspired to write the song because of a comment his father made about his mother. His father said to his mother "I love you. I want you. I need you. Forever" hence the three times a lady. It became the Commodores's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit, topping the chart for two weeks on August 12, 1978. It was also the only Motown song to reach the Top 10 that year. The song also spent three weeks at #1 on the adult contemporary chart. It was one of only a few Motown singles to reach the top spot in the UK Singles Chart, staying there for 5 weeks. In the years since the Commodores had started in 1974 it has been one of their most emotional songs since "You Don't Know That I Know" from the album Caught in the Act in 1975.
The original Commodores' version of the song was included as the final track on Lionel Richie's greatest hits compilation album Back To Front, released in 1992.
Read more about Three Times A Lady: Covers and Parodies
Famous quotes containing the words times and/or lady:
“I never had the sense of myself as an accomplished artist, and I always had to work three times as hard as anyone else to make my pieces as good as they could be. I am never completely satisfied. There always seems to be something just beyond my reach.”
—Toshiko Takaezu (b. 1922)
“I saw my lady weep,
And Sorrow proud to be advanced so
In those fair eyes where all perfections keep.
Her face was full of woe;
But such a woe, believe me, as wins more hearts
Than Mirth can do with her enticing parts.”
—Unknown. I Saw My Lady Weep (l. 1–6)