"Hold Me" is a ballad

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

performed by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

singers

Teddy Pendergrass Theodore DeReese Pendergrass (March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010) was an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter. He was born in Kingstree, South Carolina. Pendergrass spent most of his life in the Philadelphia area, and initially rose to musi ...

and

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

. The song was originally recorded solo by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

for her 1982 album

Silk Electric ''Silk Electric'' is the thirteenth studio album by American R&B singer Diana Ross, released on September 10, 1982 by RCA Records. It was Ross' second of six albums released by the label during the decade. It reached No. 27 on the US ''Billboar ...

under the title "In Your Arms", with slightly different lyrics. The version by Pendergrass and Houston appears on Pendergrass's eighth studio album '' Love Language'' (1984) and Houston's self-titled debut studio album (1985). It was written by

Linda Creed Linda Diane Creed (December 6, 1948 – April 10, 1986), also known by her married name Linda Epstein, was an American songwriter and lyricist who teamed up with Thom Bell to produce some of the most successful Philadelphia soul groups of the 19 ...

and

Michael Masser Michael William Masser (March 24, 1941 – July 9, 2015) was an American songwriter, composer and producer of popular music. Early life Born to a Jewish family in Chicago to Ester Huff and William Masser, he attended the University of Illinois ...

, with production overseen by Masser. "Hold Me" was the first single release of Houston's career. In the US, the song became a top five hit on the

R&B singles chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

and peaked at number 46 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1984. It was a top thirty hit in Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Flemish region of Belgium. Ron Wynn of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

highlighted this song on ''Love Language'' and he called it a good duet. With this song being distributed in 1984, Houston was ineligible for the nomination of

Grammy Award for Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

at the

27th Grammy Awards The 27th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1985, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and were broadcast live in the United States by CBS. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1984. Award winners Record of the ...

in 1985, when her own album was released.

Track listing

Personnel

*Vocals: Teddy Pendergrass & Whitney Houston *Drums: Carlos Vega *Bass:

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass player and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degr ...

*Keyboards: Randy Kerber, Michael Masser,

Ray Parker Jr. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film '' Ghostbusters''. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-10 h ...

*Guitars: Paul Jackson

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1982 songs 1984 singles Teddy Pendergrass songs Whitney Houston songs Asylum Records singles 1984 debut singles Contemporary R&B ballads Male–female vocal duets Songs written by Michael Masser Songs written by Linda Creed Soul ballads 1980s ballads {{1980s-R&B-song-stub