"Got to Give It Up" is a funk/disco song by American recording artist Marvin Gaye. Written by the singer and produced by Art Stewart, it was recorded in three studio dates in 1976 with a final mixing in early 1977. The song, a response to Gaye's label Motown pushing for the singer to record commercially accessible dance music to fit the music industry's embrace of dance rhythms, was released in March 1977. It was an instant success, landing at number-one on three different Billboard charts and helping its parent album, Gaye's live album, Live at the London Palladium, sell more than two-million copies.
The song held the number one position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for one week, from June 18–25, 1977. It replaced "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac, and was replaced by "Gonna Fly Now" by Bill Conti. On the R&B Singles Charts it held the number one spot for five weeks from April 30 until June 17, 1977 (being interrupted twice at the number one position for one week by "Whodunit" by Tavares for the week of May 21, 1977 and Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" for the week of May 28, 1977 respectively). On the disco charts the single was also a number one hit. The song influenced several dance records after its release including two songs by Michael Jackson. It was later covered by the group Zhane in 1999 and Aaliyah in 1997
Read more about Got To Give It Up: Background, Production, Composition, Release and Reaction, Legacy, Personnel, Charts
Famous quotes containing the words give it up and/or give:
“It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldnt give it up because by that time I was too famous.”
—Robert Benchley (18891945)
“Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh, give me back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (17881824)