"The Rhythm of Life" | ||||
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Single by Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations | ||||
from the album G.I.T. on Broadway | ||||
B-side | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" | |||
Released | 1970 | |||
Genre | Funk, R&B, Soul | |||
Label | Tamla Motown TMO 9149 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields [1] | |||
Producer(s) | George Schlatter [2] | |||
Diana Ross & the Supremes singles chronology | ||||
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The Temptations singles chronology | ||||
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"The Rhythm of Life" is a song from the 1966 Broadway musical Sweet Charity , written by composer Cy Coleman and lyricist Dorothy Fields.
In the musical, the song is performed by the character Big Daddy, the leader of an alternative "hippie" religious group/cult called the "Rhythm of Life Church." In the 1969 movie musical adaptation of Sweet Charity , directed by Bob Fosse (who also directed the original Broadway production), the song is performed by Sammy Davis, Jr., who co-stars as Big Daddy in the film. [3]
The same year as the release of the Sweet Charity film, Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations covered the song for their G.I.T. on Broadway television special, originally broadcast November 12, 1969 on NBC with a soundtrack album released a few days earlier on November 7. Their version was released as a single in 1970 in Australia and New Zealand, where it was a top 5 and top 20 hit, respectively.
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Producer(s) | Length |
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1. | "The Rhythm of Life" | Dorothy Fields | Cy Coleman | George Schlatter | 4:06 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" | Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson | 2:15 |
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Rhythm of Life" | Dorothy Fields | Cy Coleman | George Schlatter | 4:06 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Arranger(s) | Length |
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1. | "Sweet Inspiration" | Spooner Oldham, Dan Penn [4] | Frank Wilson [5] | 2:55 |
The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful American vocal band, with 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland. It is said that their breakthrough made it possible for future African-American R&B and soul musicians to find mainstream success. Billboard ranked the Supremes as the 16th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time.
Cynthia Ann Birdsong is an American singer who became famous as a member of The Supremes in 1967, when she replaced co-founding member Florence Ballard. Birdsong had previously been a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles.
"Baby Love" is a song by American music group the Supremes from their second studio album, Where Did Our Love Go. It was written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland and was released on September 17, 1964.
"Come See About Me" is a 1964 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label. The track opens with a fade-in, marking one of the first times the technique had been used on a studio recording.
"Love Child" is a 1968 song released by the Motown label for Diana Ross & the Supremes. The second single and title track from their album Love Child, it became the Supremes' 11th number-one single in the United States, where it sold 500,000 copies in its first week and 2 million copies by year's end.
"I Hear a Symphony" is a 1965 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
American girl group The Supremes have released 29 studio albums, four live albums, two soundtrack albums, 32 compilation albums, four box sets, 66 singles and three promotional singles. The Supremes are the most successful American group of all time, and the 26th greatest artist of all time on the US Billboard charts; with 12 number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and three number-one albums on the Billboard 200. The Supremes were the first artist to accumulate five consecutive number-one singles on the US Hot 100 and the first female group to top the Billboard 200 albums chart with The Supremes A' Go-Go (1966). In 2017, Billboard ranked The Supremes as the number-one girl group of all time, publishing, 'although there have been many girl group smashes in the decades since the Supremes ruled the Billboard charts, no collective has yet to challenge their, for lack of a better word, supremacy.' In 2019, the UK Official Charts Company placed 7 Supremes songs—"You Can't Hurry Love" (16), "Baby Love" (23), "Stop! In the Name of Love" (56), "Where Did Our Love Go?" (59), "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (78), "Come See About Me" (94) and "Stoned Love" (99)—on The Official Top 100 Motown songs of the Millennium chart, which ranks Motown releases by their all-time UK downloads and streams.
TCB is a 1968 television special produced by Motown Productions and George Schlatter–Ed Friendly Productions of Laugh-In fame. The special is a musical revue starring Motown's two most popular groups at the time, Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations. Containing a combination of showtunes, specially prepared numbers, and popular Motown hits, the special was taped before a live studio audience in September 1968 and originally broadcast December 9, 1968 on NBC, sponsored by the Timex watch corporation. The title of the program uses a then-popular acronym, "TCB", which stands for "Taking Care of Business".
G.I.T. on Broadway, also known as Diana Ross and The Supremes and The Temptations on Broadway, is a 1969 television special produced by Motown Productions and George Schlatter-Ed Friendly Productions. The special, a follow-up to 1968's successful TCB program, is a musical revue starring Motown's two most popular groups at the time, Diana Ross and The Supremes with the Temptations. Containing primarily Broadway showtunes, the special was taped in mid-1969 and originally broadcast November 12, 1969 on NBC. Like TCB, the title of the program was derived from an acronym, this one standing for "Gettin' It Together".
"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.
"(I Know) I'm Losing You" is a 1966 hit single recorded by the Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, written by Cornelius Grant, Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield, and produced by Norman Whitfield.
Richard Dean Taylor was a Canadian musician, most notable as a singer, songwriter, and record producer for Motown during the 1960s and 1970s. According to Jason Ankeny, Taylor was "one of the most underrated acts ever to record under the Motown aegis."
"Up the Ladder to the Roof" is a 1970 hit single recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label. It was the first Supremes single to feature new lead singer Jean Terrell in place of Diana Ross, who officially left the group for a solo career two weeks before the recording of this song in January 1970. This song also marks a number of other firsts: it is the first Supremes single since "The Happening" in 1967 to be released under the name "The Supremes" instead of "Diana Ross & The Supremes", the first Supremes single solely produced by Norman Whitfield associate Frank Wilson, and the first Supremes single to make the United Kingdom Top 10 since "Reflections" in 1967.
Together, released by Motown in 1969, was the second and final duets studio album combining Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations into an eight-person Motown act. Like the first duets LP, Diana Ross & the Supremes Join The Temptations, it is composed almost entirely of covers, including versions of The Band's "The Weight", Sly & the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song", Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and Motown songs like "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "Uptight ". "The Weight" was the only single in the US, and failed to make it into the American Top 40. "Why ", a UK exclusive single, was a Top 40 hit on the UK singles charts.
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.
"The Happening" is a 1967 song recorded by Motown artists The Supremes. It served as the theme song of the 1967 Columbia Pictures film The Happening, and was released as a single by Motown at the time of the film's release that spring. While the movie flopped, the song peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in May, becoming The Supremes' tenth number 1 single in the United States, peaking in the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart at number 6, and in the top 5 in the Australian Pop Chart and in the Dutch Pop Chart.
Sweet Charity is a 1969 American musical comedy-drama film directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse in his feature directorial debut, written by Peter Stone, and featuring music by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields.
"Where Did Our Love Go" is a 1964 song recorded by American music group the Supremes for the Motown label.
"Thank You Darling" is a song by the American music group The Supremes. Released exclusively in Europe, it is one of two Supremes' singles sung in German, the first being "Moonlight and Kisses". Both singles were written by Werner Scharfenberger and Fini Busch. The B-side, "Jonny Und Joe", is based on their earlier single, "Come See About Me", with German lyrics by Kurt Feltz. "Thank You Darling" became The Supremes' fourth top-twenty hit on the German Singles Chart.