"Don't Leave" is a song by English band

Faithless Faithless are an English band that formed in 1995, with its core members being Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. Their first album, '' Reverence'', was released in 1996 and their most recent, ''All Blessed'', in 2020. They have sold millions ...

, co-written by

Jamie Catto James David Catto (born 14 August 1968 in London, England) is a British musician, video director, photographer, and script editor. He was a founding member of Faithless, before leaving in 1999 to form 1 Giant Leap. Career Faithless Educated at ...

Rollo Rollo ( nrf, Rou, ''Rolloun''; non, Hrólfr; french: Rollon; died between 928 and 933) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, today a region in northern France. He emerged as the outstanding warrior among the Norsemen who had se ...

, and

Sister Bliss Ayalah Deborah Bentovim (born 30 December 1970), better known by her stage name Sister Bliss, is a British keyboardist, record producer, DJ and songwriter. In the studio, she is best known for her work with Rollo Armstrong as one half of the pr ...

and produced by the latter two. Catto provides the lead vocals on the song while

Pauline Taylor Pauline Taylor is a British singer and songwriter who came to recognition as the lead vocalist on the singles "Love Love Love, Here I Come" by Rollo Goes Mystic and "Let This Be a Prayer" by Rollo Goes Spiritual. Both groups are pseudonyms for ...

and Rollo's sister

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

perform several backing vocals. A downtempo

soul ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cur ...

, the track was included on Faithless's debut album, '' Reverence'' (1996), and was released as its third single in March 1996, reaching number 34 on 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 ...

. In 1997, "Don't Leave" was included on the soundtrack of the 1997 romantic

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film ''

A Life Less Ordinary ''A Life Less Ordinary'' is a 1997 romantic black comedy film directed by Danny Boyle, written by John Hodge, and starring Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter, Delroy Lindo, Ian Holm and Dan Hedaya. The plot follows two angels (Hunter ...

''. The song was re-released in a slightly remixed form to coincide with this appearance and reached a new peak of number 21 in the UK while also charting in Australia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. In Australia, it was ranked number 95 on the

Triple J Hottest 100 The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Critical reception

Reviewing the 1997 re-release of the single, British publication ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' named "Don't Leave" their "Single of the Week" on 25 October 1997, calling it a "sumptuous love theme" and praising its new dance remixes. The same year, British columnist

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

called "Don't Leave" one of the most "outstanding" tracks on '' Reverence'', referring to it as "beautiful" and the "most proper" song on the album. Writing about the song in ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' magazine, Gary Smith noted that it would resound well with the then-upcoming Christmas season, calling it a "substantial" song with "slamming grooves". Retrospectively, Paul Clarke of the

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wrote that the song is a "beautiful acoustic lament" in 2008 while Justin Chadwick of music website Albumism called the track "plaintive" in 2021.

Chart performance

On the week starting 17 March 1996, "Don't Leave" debuted at number 34, its original peak, on the

, giving Faithless their third top-40 hit. It dropped out of the top 100 two weeks later. In Germany, the song first charted at number 93 on 9 December 1996, rising to its peak of number 72 three weeks later, in January 1997. The same month, it debuted at number 49 on the

Swiss Singles Chart The Swiss Hitparade (german: link=no, Schweizer Hitparade) is Switzerland's main Record chart, music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland. The Swiss charts include: * ...

. After peaking at number 38 the following week, the song spent the next four charts hovering between numbers 43 and 44 before dropping out of the top 100. In 1997, "Don't Leave" was re-released as a single from the soundtrack to ''

'', reaching a new peak of number 21 on the UK Singles Chart; it stayed in the top 100 for eight weeks in total. Throughout late 1997 and early 1998, the single charted in several other countries, peaking within the top 100 in Australia and the Netherlands and within the top 50 in New Zealand.

Track listings

1996 release

UK CD single # "Don't Leave" (radio edit) # "Don't Leave" (Floating mix) # "Don't Leave" (Big mix—mix 2) # "Don't Leave" (Moody mix—mix 1) UK 12-inch single :A. "Don't Leave" (mix 1) :B. "Don't Leave" (mix 2) UK cassette single :A. "Don't Leave" (radio edit) :AA. "Don't Leave" (Big mix) German maxi-CD single # "Don't Leave" (radio edit) – 3:57 # "Don't Leave" (live version) – 3:42 # "Don't Leave" (Euphoric mix) – 11:24 # "Don't Leave" (Deep mix) – 8:03 # "Don't Leave" (Simple mix) – 8:12 German 12-inch single :A1. "Don't Leave" (Euphoric mix) – 11:24 :A2. "Don't Leave" (Deep mix) – 8:03 :B1. "Don't Leave" (Simple mix) – 8:12 :B2. "

Salva Mea "Salva Mea" (faux Latin for "save me") is a song by British electronic band Faithless, written by members Rollo, Sister Bliss, and Maxi Jazz. The female vocals on all versions are performed by Rollo's sister Dido. "Salva Mea" was released in 19 ...

" (Deep Gold mix) – 9:33

1997 release

UK CD1 # "Don't Leave" (Goetz's String mix) # "Don't Leave" (Hard mix) # "Don't Leave" (

Nellee Hooper Nellee Hooper (born Paul Andrew Hooper on 15 March 1963) is a British record producer, remixer and songwriter known for his work with many major recording artists beginning in the late 1980s. He also debuted as a motion picture music composer w ...

mix 1) # "Don't Leave" (Euphoric mix) # "Don't Leave" (Simple mix) UK CD2 # "Don't Leave" (String mix) # "Don't Leave" (Floating mix) # "Salva Mea" (

Danny Tenaglia Daniel "Danny" Tenaglia (born March 7, 1961) is an American DJ and record producer. He is a Grammy nominee for the best remixed recording (44th Annual Grammy Award). He is also a three time International Dance Music Award winner, 3 time DJ Awa ...

mix) UK cassette single # "Don't Leave" (Hard mix) # "Don't Leave" (String mix) # "Don't Leave" (Floating mix) Dutch CD single # "Don't Leave" (Euphoric radio) # "Don't Leave" (String mix) French 12-inch single :A1. "Don't Leave" (Euphoric club mix) :A2. "Don't Leave" (String mix) :B1. "Don't Leave" (Simple mix) :B2. "Don't Leave" (Euphoric radio) Australian CD and cassette single # "Don't Leave" (String version) # "Don't Leave" (Scratch edit) # "Don't Leave" (

Ian Caple Ian Caple is an English recording engineer, record producer, programmer and mixer. History Caple's career began at EMI Music in 1979. After training at Abbey Road Studios, he became an engineer at EMI's KPM studios in Denmark Street London. He ...

7-inch Hard mix) # "Don't Leave" (Euphoric mix)

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from the '' Reverence / Irreverence'' album booklet. *

– writing, vocals *

– writing, programming, production *

– writing, keyboards, production *

– additional lead and backing vocals *

– backing vocals * Dave Burnham – mixing, engineering * Ibi Tijani – assistant engineering * Nick Kirkland – assistant engineering

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1996 singles 1996 songs 1997 singles Cheeky Records singles Faithless songs Song recordings produced by Rollo Armstrong Song recordings produced by Sister Bliss Songs written by Rollo Armstrong Songs written by Sister Bliss Soul ballads