"(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" is an R&B song written by Gary Jackson, Raynard Miner, and Carl Smith. It was recorded by

Jackie Wilson Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984) was an American singer and performer of the 1950s and 60s. He was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. Nicknamed "Mr. Excitement", he was considered a mas ...

for his album '' Higher and Higher'' (1967), produced by

Carl Davis Carl Davis, (born October 28, 1936) is an American-born conductor and composer who has lived in the United Kingdom since 1961. He has written music for more than 100 television programmes, but is best known for creating music to accompany si ...

, and became a Top 10 pop and number one R&B hit.

Overview

The backing track was recorded on July 6, 1967 at Columbia's studios in Chicago. Produced by

, the session, arranged by

Sonny Sanders William Nelson "Sonny" Sanders (August 6, 1939 – October 12, 2016) was an American soul music singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. Born in Chicago, Sanders made his first recording in 1955, on "Tears of Love" / "Roxanna" by Sa ...

, featured bassist

James Jamerson James Lee Jamerson (January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983) was an American bass player. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases u ...

, drummer

Richard "Pistol" Allen Howard Richard "Pistol" Allen (August 13, 1932 – June 30, 2002) was an American musician, most notable as a Motown session drummer with The Funk Brothers. History Allen was the primary recording session drummer for Motown Records' in-hous ...

, guitarist Robert White, and keyboardist Johnny Griffith; these four musicians were all members of the

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

house band

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

who often moonlighted on sessions for Davis to augment the wages paid by Motown. According to Carl Davis, the Funk Brothers "used to come over on the weekends from Detroit. They'd load up in the van and come over to Chicago, and I would pay 'em double scale, and I'd pay 'em in cash." Similarly, two members of Motown's house session singers

The Andantes The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by Ma ...

, Jackie Hicks and Marlene Barrow, along with

Pat Lewis Pat Lewis is an American soul singer and backing vocalist since the 1960s. Biography Patsy Lewis was born October 23, 1947 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States, and moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1951. In the early 1960s, Pat, her sister Dia ...

(who was filling in for Andantes member Louvain Demps), performed on the session for "Higher and Higher". Drummer

Maurice White Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter, and producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, and served as the ...

(better known as a singer for

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

) also played on the recording. Motown's Mike Terry played the baritone saxophone. The song was originally written by Chess Records' in-house writers and producers Carl Smith and Raynard Miner, and initially recorded by The Dells for the label, but not released. Another writer, Gary Jackson, made some changes to the song and pitched it to Davis at Brunswick. When the singer recorded his vocal track, Davis recalls, Wilson originally sang the song "like a soul ballad. I said that's totally wrong. You have to jump and go with the percussion... If he didn't want to sing it that way, I would put my voice on the record and sell millions." After hearing Davis's advice, Wilson cut the lead vocal for "Higher and Higher" in a single take. A publishing deal for the song was reached with Brunswick after Chess producer/A&R head, Billy Davis intervened. Writing credits were agreed with Smith, Miner, Jackson and Billy Davis all named. Later, Davis removed his credit and BMI now lists the song as by the three other writers. The Dells' version appeared on their album, "There Is" for Chess subsidiary, Cadet the same year.

Release

Released in August 1967, the song reached number one on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

and, in November, peaked on the ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

at No. 6. Wilson's version also rose to number 11 and 15 upon the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

during 1969 and 1987 respectively. Brunswick Records then released an album titled ''Higher and Higher'' in November 1967. Its chart peak was No. 163 ( ''Billboard'' 200) and No. 28 (''

R&B Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart.) The track was ranked No. 246 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

's'' list of

The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

, and was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

in 1999.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Rita Coolidge version

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and t ...

remade the song as "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher" for her album '' Anytime...Anywhere'' (1977). Her version has a more moderate tempo than that of the uptempo original, and largely omits the chorus which is evidenced only in the background vocals sung under the repetition of the first verse with which she closes the song. Coolidge and her sister

Priscilla Coolidge Priscilla Coolidge (1941 – October 2, 2014) was an American recording artist and sister of singer Rita Coolidge. Life and career Coolidge was born in Lafayette, Tennessee. Between 1969 and 1979, she was married to Booker T. Jones, who produce ...

had sung background on a version of the song for a prospective album by Priscilla's husband

Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known art ...

; when that album was shelved, Coolidge asked him if she could cut the song using his arrangement. Released as a single, Coolidge's version became her first major hit in nine years of recording: the track peaked at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was kept from the No. 1 spot by " Best of My Love" by

The Emotions ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

.''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' ranked it at No. 1. "Higher and Higher" also reached No. 1 in Canada. Both the song and a subsequent release, "

We're All Alone "We're All Alone" is a song written by Boz Scaggs, which became a hit for Frankie Valli in 1976. The next year it was a top-ten hit for Rita Coolidge in the US and the UK. Scaggs introduced it on his 1976 album ''Silk Degrees'', and included ...

", earned Coolidge

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

s for each selling a million copies. In the UK it was released as the follow-up single after "We're All Alone" which had reached No. 6, but it only achieved a peak of No. 48 there.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Kevin Borg version

In 2008,

Kevin Borg Kevin James Borg (born 9 June 1986, in Floriana, Malta), is a Maltese pop singer who lives and works in Sweden. Borg rose to fame as the winner of the fifth series of the Swedish television singing competition ''Idol'' in 2008. He was the thir ...

performed the song, still known as "Higher and Higher", and became the winner of season eight of ''

Idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

''. The version charted in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, peaking at number twenty-nine.

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higher And Higher 1967 singles 2007 singles 1977 singles Jackie Wilson songs Otis Redding songs Rita Coolidge songs Bette Midler songs Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles The Flying Pickets songs 1967 songs Brunswick Records singles A&M Records singles Northern soul songs

Overview

Release

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Rita Coolidge version

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Kevin Borg version

See also

References

External links