Don't Leave Me This Way


"Don't Leave Me This Way" is a song written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert. First charting as a hit for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, an act on Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International label in 1975, "Don't Leave Me This Way" was later a disco hit for Motown artist Thelma Houston in 1977. The song was also a hit for British duo The Communards in 1986.

Chart performance

Thelma Houston version

"Don't Leave Me This Way" was covered by then-upcoming Motown artist Thelma Houston in 1976. Originally assigned to Diana Ross, it was intended to be the follow-up to her hit "Love Hangover" but was reassigned and given to Houston instead.
Following the release of her fourth album Any Way You Like It, a Boston record pool unanimously reported positive audience response to "Don't Leave Me This Way" in discos, and the song was selected for release as a single. Houston's version became a massive international hit, topping the soul singles chart and, nine weeks later, the Billboard Hot 100 for one week in April 1977. The song peaked at number 13 in the UK. The song went to number one on the disco chart. Later in the year, it was featured on the soundtrack of the movie, Looking for Mr. Goodbar. In 1978, "Don't Leave Me This Way" won the award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female at the 20th Annual Grammy Awards.
Houston's version was revived in 1995 in several remixes, which reached number 19 on the US Billboard Dance Chart and number 35 in the UK. This version got Houston ranked number 86 on VH1's "100 Greatest One-hit Wonders", as well as the number 2 spot on their "100 Greatest Dance Songs" list.
The 1994/1995 remixes are:
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Houston's version of the song became an unofficial theme song for the AIDS epidemic in gay male communities of the west. American artist Nayland Blake created a work for American Foundation of AIDS research about the epidemic that referenced the song and its significance in the community. An art exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia entitled "Don't Leave Me This Way – Art in the age of AIDS" opened in 1994 containing various works about the epidemic. A 246-page publication of the exhibition also followed.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart

Peak
position
Australia 83
UK Singles Chart35
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play19

Year-end charts

The Communards version

The song was covered by The Communards in a Hi-NRG version. This recording topped the UK charts for four weeks in September 1986, becoming the biggest selling record of the year in the process. The featured guest vocalist was the female jazz singer Sarah Jane Morris. The song became a Top 40 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Dance chart. In 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 16th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.
Several remixes were issued, notably the "Gotham City Mix" which was split across two sides of a 12" single and ran for a total of 22 minutes 55 seconds.
The album liner notes dedicate the song to the GLC.

Chart performance

Year-end charts

Cover versions

released a cover version of this in 1985 on Megatone Records.
A version of the song is featured in the stage musical, Priscilla Queen of the Desert – the Musical during a funeral scene.
Ewan McGregor covers the song in ‘Elephant Love Medley’ in the film Moulin Rouge
Sheena Easton covered the song for her 2000 retro disco album Fabulous.
Andy Hallett sang in 2003 episode of Angel. Episode name: Life of the Party.
Episode 6 of the 2004 BBC musical drama serial Blackpool featured the Communards version, accompanied on screen by the singing and dancing of the characters, as part of the story.
Cher covered the song during her Las Vegas residency show Cher.
The 2012 song "Lying Together" by French Kiwi Juice samples vocals from Houston's cover.
The song appeared in the 2015 film The Martian directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon.
Bakermat covered the song in 2017 with their single "Baby".