| The Boss | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 23, 1979 | |||
| Recorded | 1979 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 35:33 | |||
| Label | Motown | |||
| Producer | Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson | |||
| Diana Ross chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Boss | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B [3] |
| The New York Times | (favorable) [4] |
The Boss is the tenth studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on May 23, 1979, by Motown Records.
This album was written and produced by longtime Ross collaborators Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson and marked her return to Top 40 radio based on the strength of the title track, which peaked at number 19 on the pop singles chart, and number 12 on the US R&B Chart. [5] In addition, all the LP tracks went to number one on the dance charts, [6] and the album itself peaked at number 14 on the Billboard 200. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
For its 20th anniversary in 1999, the album was remastered and released on CD with 12" versions of "The Boss" and "It's My House" as extra tracks. The 12" versions of "I Ain't Been Licked" and "No One Gets the Prize"/"The Boss" appear on Diana: Deluxe Edition , and a rare remixed single version of "No One Gets the Prize" on The Motown Anthology – Diana Ross.
Ross also promoted the album on her first HBO special, Standing Room Only . The special was culled from her successful Tour '79 stop at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and the setlist included the title song, "The Boss", plus "It's My House", "No One Gets the Prize", "I Ain't Been Licked" and "All for One".
All tracks written and produced by Ashford & Simpson.
Side A
Side B
1999 Remastered Edition bonus tracks
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA) [16] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting, production and recording duo composed of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.
"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" is a soul song most popularly released as a joint single performed by Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations for the Motown label. This version peaked for two weeks at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in the United States, selling 900,000 copies in its first two weeks, and at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1969.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and became a hit again in 1970 when recorded by former Supremes frontwoman Diana Ross. The song became Ross's first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
"Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" is a 1968 single released by American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, on the Tamla label in 1968. The B-side of the single is "Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl" from the duo's United LP. The first release off the duo's second album: You're All I Need, the song—written and produced by regular Gaye/Terrell collaborators Ashford & Simpson—became a hit within weeks of release eventually peaking at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart, the first of the duo's two number-one R&B hits. In the UK "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" reached number 34.
You're All I Need is the second studio album by soul musicians Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, released in August 1968 on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Highlighted by three hit singles written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, You're All I Need was recorded throughout 1966 and 1967 and features two Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". It peaked at #60 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Album Chart. You're All I Need was the two singers' final collaboration effort, as Terrell would become ill following recording, before succumbing to a brain tumor in 1970.
Diana Ross is the debut solo studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on June 19, 1970 by Motown Records. The ultimate test to see if the former Supremes frontwoman could make it as a solo act, the album was overseen by the songwriting-producing team of Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, who had Ross re-record several of the songs the duo had recorded on other Motown acts. Johnny Bristol, producer of her final single with The Supremes, contributed on The Velvelettes cover "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You."
Surrender is the third studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on July 6, 1971 by Motown Records. The album saw her reuniting with writer-producer team Ashford & Simpson who had overseen her self-titled debut album in 1970. As with Diana Ross, some of the tracks that Ross recorded with the duo had previously been recorded by other Motown artists, including Gladys Knight & the Pips, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Rita Wright, and the Four Tops.
Everything Is Everything is the second studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on November 3, 1970 by Motown Records. After her self-titled debut and its accompanying two singles, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," Motown rushed the release of its follow-up. Musicians Deke Richards and Hal Davis were commissioned to produce Everything is Everything as slightly more pop than her soulful debut with Ashford & Simpson and the album included cover versions of contemporary hits by The Beatles and The Carpenters.
Diana & Marvin is a duets album by American soul musicians Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, released October 26, 1973 on Motown. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1971 and 1973 at Motown Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Gaye and Ross were widely recognized at the time as two of the top pop music performers.
Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations is a collaborative album combining Motown's two best selling groups, Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations. Issued by Motown in late 1968 to coincide with the broadcast of the Supremes/Temptations TCB television special, the album was a success, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200. Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations spent four weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Love Child is the fifteenth studio album released by Diana Ross & the Supremes for the Motown label in 1968. The LP was the group's first studio LP not to include any songs written or produced by any member of the Holland–Dozier–Holland production team, who had previously overseen most of the Supremes' releases.
Baby It's Me is the eighth studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on September 16, 1977, by Motown Records. It peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Top 200 and No. 7 on the R&B album chart. The album was produced by producer Richard Perry. The LP yielded one top 40 hit, "Gettin' Ready for Love", reaching number 27 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Other charting singles released from the album include "You Got It" and "Your Love Is So Good for Me", the latter receiving a Grammy nomination.
Diana Ross & the Supremes: Greatest Hits Vol. 3 is a 1969 compilation album by Diana Ross & the Supremes, released on the Motown label. It features all of the hits released by the group between 1967 and 1969 save for the Supremes/Temptations duet singles. After Florence Ballard's mid-1967 departure from the group, Supremes singles were recorded by Diana Ross with session singers The Andantes on backgrounds instead of new Supreme Cindy Birdsong and founding member Mary Wilson, including "Love Child" and "Someday We'll Be Together".
All The Great Hits is a compilation album by American singer Diana Ross, released in October 1981 by Motown Records. It was the second Motown compilation set to capitalize on the success of 1980's diana produced by Chic. Her duet "Endless Love" with Lionel Richie was from the film of the same name, Endless Love and, just like 1980's "It's My Turn", had already been released as a single and on a soundtrack album.
"The Boss" is a 1979 song written and produced by Ashford & Simpson and recorded by American 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 (1979). The song was released on May 22, 1979, a day before the album release.
"It's My House" is a ballad composed by the rhythm and blues writing team of Ashford and Simpson, recorded by Motown icon Diana Ross for her 1979 album release The Boss, from which it was issued as the second single on 20 October 1979.
Live at Caesars Palace is a live album by the American singer Diana Ross, released in 1974. It was recorded during a 1973 performance at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace. It was the first of two live albums Ross recorded for Motown. It reached No. 64 in the USA.
Upside Down: The Collection is a compilation album by Diana Ross, released by Spectrum Music/Universal in the United Kingdom in 2012. This album is a budget collection containing songs that were released from 1970 through 1981 on Motown Records. In the UK, 17 of the 20 songs contained in this compilation reached the Top 40. In the U.S., 12 of these songs made it onto the Billboard Top 40 singles charts, and 6 of those 12 reached number 1.
Is It Still Good to Ya is the sixth studio album recorded by American vocal duo Ashford & Simpson, released in 1978 on the Warner Bros. label. The album was remastered and reissued with bonus tracks in 2015 by Big Break Records. The album sold more than 500,000 copies in its first two years of release.
High-Rise is a studio album by American vocal duo Ashford & Simpson, released in 1983 on Capitol Records. It was their second album for Capitol.
