Don't Leave Me This Way

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"Don't Leave Me This Way" is an R&B/soul/disco song written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Cary Gilbert. First charting as a hit for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, an act on Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International label in 1975, "Don't Leave Me This Way" was later a hit single for Thelma Houston and The Communards.

The Blue Notes' original version of the song, featuring Teddy Pendergrass' lead vocal, was included as an album track on the group's successful Wake Up Everybody LP. Though not issued as a single in the United States, the Blue Notes' recording reached #3 on the Billboard Disco charts and later reached #5 on the UK singles chart. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was covered by Motown artist Thelma Houston in 1977. Her version, with its more overt disco arrangement, was a massive international hit peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a single week in April 1977, the song peaked at #13 on the UK singles chart. Houston's version was revived in 1995 in a remix, which reached #19 on the Billboard Dance Chart and #35 on the UK singles chart.

Nine years later, the song was revived by The Communards in an avowedly Hi-Nrg version of the song. This recording reached #1 in the UK for four weeks in September 1986, becoming the biggest selling record of the year in the process. The featured guest vocalist was jazz singer Sarah Jane Morris. The song reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 but peaked at #1 on the Billboard Dance chart.

The song has been recorded by several other artists including Tina Turner, Sheena Easton, Andy Abraham, and The Temptations, amongst others.

The Thelma Houston cover of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was ranked #87 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders.

[edit] Sample

"Don't Leave Me This Way" (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes version) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Released in 1975 on the album Wake Up Everybody, this song was later a number-one hit for Thelma Houston.
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Preceded by "Don't Give Up On Us" by David Soul	Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Thelma Houston version) April 23, 1977	Succeeded by "Southern Nights" by Glen Campbell
Preceded by "I Want To Wake Up With You" by Boris Gardiner	UK number one single (Communards version) September 7, 1986	Succeeded by "True Blue" by Madonna