"Love Hangover" was the fourth number one single for Motown singer Diana Ross. It was released in March 1976, and rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Soul Singles and Hot Dance Club Play charts simultaneously.
Written by Pamela Sawyer and Marilyn McLeod as a disco number, the Motown staff believed that it would be perfect for Ross to record. Ross, like her soul contemporaries Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye, initially resented the new musical movement but eventually agreed to record the song.
Producer Hal Davis instructed the song's engineer Russ Terrana to install a strobe light so that Ross could be in the "disco" mindset. As the song changed from ballad to uptempo, Ross became more comfortable with the material; she hummed, sang bit parts, laughed, danced around and even imitated Billie Holiday. The carefree and sensual nature of Ross' vocals and the music's direction helped to sell the song.
Hal Davis recorded the track in 1975 thinking it ideal for Marvin Gaye or Diana Ross. They were his two favorite vocalists to work with and thought Diana would be sexier on it, so he cut it on her. Ross recorded "Love Hangover' in 1975 it was released on the Diana Ross LP in February, 1976. The lead single from the album was "I Thought It Took A Little Time." After the Diana Ross album was released, The 5th Dimension did a copycat cover of "Love Hangover" and released a shorter version of as a single. Motown then issued Ross' version on 45. Both versions entered the chart the same day. By the time Ross' version of "Love Hangover" went to number one, Ross had reinvented herself as a disco diva and The 5th Dimension's version had peaked at number 80. It won Ross a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance.
Motown released versions of Ross's version in 1988 (remixed by the British team PWL) and 1993 (remixed by Frankie Knuckles for the album Diana Extended: The Remixes and by Joey Negro for a single).
Almighty Records released a remixed version in 2007 (remixed by the UK team Almighty).
Read more about Love Hangover: Track Listing, In Popular Culture, Other Versions
Famous quotes containing the words love and/or hangover:
“The heart is blind; but love is not blind. None of the gods is so discriminating.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The hangover became a part of the day as well allowed-for as the Spanish siesta.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)