The Boss (Diana Ross song)
"The Boss" is a 1979 song written and produced by Ashford & Simpson and recorded by singer Diana Ross, who released it as a single on the Motown label. It was the first release from the album of the same title.
Commercial performance
The single peaked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reached #12 on the Hot Soul Singles chart, and went to number 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.The song debuted at number 64 in the UK Singles Chart on July 21, 1979, reaching its highest peak on August 4, 1979. The song spent 7 weeks in the top 75 before leaving the chart on September 1, 1979.
Weekly charts
| Chart | Peak position |
| Canada RPM Top Singles | 48 |
| Canada RPM Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| Canada Dance/Urban | 8 |
| UK Singles | 40 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 19 |
| US Adult Contemporary | 41 |
| US Hot Disco Singles | 1 |
| US Hot Soul Singles | 12 |
| US Cash Box Top 100 | 21 |
Year-end charts
Formats
The track was remixed by David Morales in 1993 and included on Ross' album .The track was also remixed by Almighty Records in 2009 and was included on their album "Almighty – We Love Diana Ross". In 2019, a remix by Eric Kupper, entitled "The Boss 2019" went to number one on the Billboard, US Dance Club Songs chart.
Personnel
- Lead vocals by Diana Ross
- Background vocals by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Maxine and Julia Waters
- Produced and written by Ashford & Simpson
The Braxtons version
Music video
A music video was released featuring The Braxtons Trina, Towanda and Tamar with a length of the video at 4 minutes and 27 seconds. The video starts with Towanda kissing goodbye her lover as he rushes off to work. Then the video brings you to a living room where Towanda, Trina, and Tamar are singing and dancing. The video also shows them talking on the phone to each other and also singing by a tree. The plot of the video revolves around Towanda acquiring photos of her husband with another woman, and after he leaves for work, the sisters have a garage sale clearing out the entire house. The video ends with Towanda's husband coming home to an empty house with the pictures left in an envelope on the floor.Commercial performance
On February 1, 1997 the Masters At Work version topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart for one week a #1 in the United States. The song stayed in the chart for 14 weeks.On March 29, 1997 the song debuted at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart. The song spent a total of three weeks on the chart at numbers 50 and 69 respectively before leaving the Top 75 on April 12, 1997 becoming their second top 40 in the UK.
Track listing and formats
Chart performance
Release history
Other cover versions
On February 12, 2008, American dance-pop singer Kristine W released a cover of this song as the first single off her album The Power of Music. Kristine's version also hit number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in March 2008, becoming her eleventh US dance chart-topper and the third version of the song to top this survey.The song was covered by Ashford and Simpson during a televised live concert special in 1982, and by Whitney Houston during her live shows in 1997/98.
Korean pop singer J covered the song on her 2001 special English album Chocolate.