What You Gave Me

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"What You Gave Me"
What You Gave Me - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.jpg
Single by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
from the album Easy
B-side "How You Gonna Keep It (After You Get It)"
ReleasedNovember 1969
Recorded1969, Hitsville USA
Genre Soul
Length2:38
Label Tamla
Songwriter(s) Ashford & Simpson
Producer(s) Ashford & Simpson
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell singles chronology
"That's the Way Love Is"
(1968)
"What You Gave Me"
(1969)
"How Can I Forget/Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got"
(1970)
"What You Gave Me"
What You Gave Me - Diana Ross.jpg
Single by Diana Ross
from the album Ross
Released1978
Genre Soul, Disco
Label Motown Records
Songwriter(s) Ashford & Simpson
Producer(s) Hal Davis
Diana Ross singles chronology
"Lovin', Livin' and Givin'"
(1978)
"What You Gave Me"
(1978)
"Ease On Down The Road"
(1978)

"What You Gave Me" is a hit duet written and produced by Ashford & Simpson and issued as a single originally by the vocal duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1969 on the Tamla label.

Contents

Recorded in the final throes of the Gaye-Terrell duet recordings, the song became the second single from their album, Easy . As with much of the album, there is debate over who sang with Gaye: Terrell, who was undergoing treatment for brain cancer, or the track's co-writer and co-producer, Valerie Simpson.

While Gaye later insisted that Simpson stood in for Terrell, Simpson has maintained that Terrell took part in the recordings. Whatever the case, the song gave the duo a modest charting, peaking at number forty-nine pop and number six R&B. [1]

Cash Box described it as a "finely honed vocal collaboration." [2]

Chart history

Later versions

David Ruffin also recorded the song for his 1969 album Feelin' Good. It was revived years later as a club hit by Diana Ross in 1978. Her version peaked at #86 on the R&B charts.

Credits

Related Research Articles

<i>Easy</i> (Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell album) 1969 studio album by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Easy is an album recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and released by Motown Records on September 16, 1969 under the Tamla Records label. One song on the album, "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy To Come By", was a hit single and remains popular to this day. Terrell had been ill, suffering from complications caused by a brain tumor, since the fall of 1967. Marvin Gaye later claimed that as a result, most of the female vocals on this album were performed by Valerie Simpson, who served as co-songwriter and co-producer for the LP with her boyfriend and future husband Nickolas Ashford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tammi Terrell</span> American singer-songwriter (1945–1970)

Tammi Terrell was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye.

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References

  1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 225.
  2. "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. November 22, 1969. p. 18. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
  3. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN   0-89820-089-X
  4. The Top 100 Soul/R&B Singles