Thelma Houston – Don’t Leave Me This Way

“Don’t Leave Me This Way” – Single by Thelma Houston from the album Any Way You Like It
B-side “Today Will Soon Be Yesterday”
Released December 2, 1976
Label Tamla
Songwriters Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, Cary Gilbert
Producer Hal Davis
Charted No.1 in US; No.13 in UK; No.6 in West Germany; No.1 in Belgium; No.4 in Canada; No.4 in Sweden.

Video recorded on February 17, 1977

“Don’t Leave Me This Way” is a song written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert. It was originally released in 1975 by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, an act signed to Gamble & Huff’s Philadelphia International label.

“Don’t Leave Me This Way” was covered by American singer Thelma Houston in 1976. Originally assigned to Diana Ross, it was intended to be the follow-up to her 1976 single “Love Hangover”, but was reassigned to Houston instead.

Thelma Houston had been recording since the mid-’60s, but despite tremendous acclaim, she wasn’t able to land a hit until “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” Her first album, Sunshower, was produced by Jimmy Webb but went nowhere. She bounced around between labels and producers, and in 1974 earned a Grammy nomination for her song “You’ve Been Doing Wrong for So Long” (Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female). She recorded the original version of “Do You Know Where You’re Going To,” but her version wasn’t released as the song went to Diana Ross for her movie Mahogany.

Houston finally found the right chemistry on her 1976 album Any Way You Like It. Producer Hal Davis had recorded “Love Hangover,” a disco hit for Diana Ross, and used that template in turning “Don’t Leave Me This Way” into a dance track. Davis recorded Houston in the same studio he recorded Ross (Paramount in Los Angeles), using many of the same musicians (including James Gadson on drums and Henry Davis on bass). Key to the sound was the guitar by Art Wright, who also did the arrangement.

Backup singers on this track were Maxine and Julia Waters, who appeared on many disco tracks, as well as recordings by Neil Diamond, Adele, and many others.
This won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female.

In 2021, Rolling Stone included “Don’t Leave Me This Way” in their list of “500 Best Songs of All Time” at No. 355, while in 2022, the magazine ranked it No. 121 in their “200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time”.[16] In 2025, Billboard ranked it No. 55 in their “The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time”.