If I Were Your Woman (song)

"If I Were Your Woman"
Single by Gladys Knight & the Pips
from the album If I Were Your Woman
B-side "The Tracks of My Tears"
Released November 1970
Recorded Hitsville USA
(Detroit, Michigan)
March 13, 1970
Genre Soul
Length 3:14
Label Motown
Writer(s) Gloria Jones, Clay McMurray, Pam Sawyer
Producer(s) Clay McMurray
Gladys Knight & the Pips singles chronology
"You Need Love Like I Do (Don't You)"
(1970)		 "If I Were Your Woman"
(1970)		 "I Don't Want to Do Wrong"
(1971)

"If I Were Your Woman" is a song recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips. The song was written by Pam Sawyer, Clay McMurray, and Gloria Jones and it was produced by McMurray and arranged by David Van De Pitte. Released in late 1970 from the album of the same title, it spent one week at number-one on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart in January 1971. It was also successful on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, peaking at #9.[1]

Chart positions

Charts Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 9
U.S. Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles 1

Cover versions

There have been numerous cover versions, most notably by Stephanie Mills. Her version peaked at #19 on the Hot Black Singles chart in 1988. This song was also covered by Shirley Brown in 2000 on her album Holding My Own.

Some years before, Latimore on his homonymous album of 1973, recorded this song with the title "If You Were My Woman" (#70 R&B).

George Michael covered the song as "If You Were My Woman" at Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute on June 11, 1988, at Wembley Arena. The performance appears on the Praying for Time/If You Were My Woman CD single (Epic GE01 - UK - 7").

Alicia Keys recorded a medley of "I Were Your Woman" and "Walk On By" for her 2003 album The Diary of Alicia Keys, entitled "If I Was Your Woman/Walk On By". Keys would later record a full version of the song in 2005 for her live album Unplugged; it received a nomination for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance at the 2006 Grammy Awards.

Drum and bass producers Brookes Brothers sampled the chorus in their 2008 song, "Tear You Down".

On November 4, 2013, Tessanne Chin covered the song on Season 5 of NBC's singing competition, The Voice for the Live Top 10 round.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 54.
  2. ↑ Tessanne Chin puts her heart and soul into "If I Were Your Woman."

External links