"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" is a

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

song most popularly released as a joint single performed by

Diana Ross & the Supremes 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 ...

and

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

for the

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

label. This version peaked for two weeks at No. 2 on the

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 ...

in the United States, selling 900,000 copies in its first two weeks, and at No. 3 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 January 1969. Written by

Gamble and Huff Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production team credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known a ...

and Jerry Ross, it was originally a top 20 R&B hit for Dee Dee Warwick in 1966 (U.S. No. 88 Pop).

Madeline Bell Madeline Bell (born July 23, 1942) is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s with pop group Blue Mink, having arrived from America in the gospel show ''Black Nativity'' in 1962, with the ...

's cover peaked at No. 26 on the Hot 100 on 23 March 1968.

Early versions

Most versions of the song credit the songwriting to Jerry Ross and Kenny Gamble, who were the only two writers named on original record labels. Some recordings also credit Jerry Williams as a third writer, although BMI and some other sources credit Leon Huff, rather than Williams. "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" was released as a single by Dee Dee Warwick on

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

as the follow-up to her Top Ten R&B hit "I Want to Be With You"; co-writer Jerry Ross produced the track whose arrangement was by

Jimmy Wisner James Joseph Wisner (December 8, 1931 – March 13, 2018) was an American pianist, arranger, songwriter, and producer. He is best known for his 1961 hit single "Asia Minor", released under the name Kokomo. Biography Born in Philadelphia, Wisne ...

while Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson provided background vocals. This single - whose B-side is the earliest known recorded version of "

Yours Until Tomorrow "Yours Until Tomorrow" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, recorded by Dee Dee Warwick in 1968. It was used as the B-side to her recording of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me." Versions by, respectively, Vivian Reed and Gene Pitney per ...

" by

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits " Will You Lo ...

and

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

- reached No. 13 R&B crossing over to No. 88 Pop in December 1966. Scoring two consecutive Top 20 R&B hits gave Warwick sufficient cachet for her first album release entitled ''I Want to Be With You/I'm Gonna Make You Love Me''. Although Warwick had stronger chart showings than "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", the song became her best-known hit by virtue of the Supremes/Temptations remake. "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" was the song Warwick performed at the 1999 Rhythm and Blues Foundation awards ceremony when she received a Pioneer Award. Jerry Ross overall produced ten recordings of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me": these included a version on

Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (born December 8, 1939) is an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame i ...

's 1967 ''Soul Artistry'' album and another by

Jay & the Techniques Jay & the Techniques was an American pop group formed in Allentown, Pennsylvania during the mid-1960s. Their song "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie", released in 1967 on the Smash label, reached the Top 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Biogra ...

which was featured on the 1968 album release ''Love, Lost & Found''. Ashford & Simpson sang background on all the versions of the song Ross produced with the Jay & the Techniques version also featuring Melba Moore.

1968

"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" was offered to

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dram ...

who recorded for

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet i ...

, the UK equivalent of Mercury Records. Springfield passed the song on to

, her friend and regular background vocalist. Springfield sang backup vocals on Bell's version, which was featured on Bell's 1967 Philips album release ''Bell's a Poppin. According to Bell "nothing happened with

he album He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

and the tapes were sent over to America and this one guy took a shine to 'I’m Gonna Make You Love Me'. He printed up 10,000 copies and he sent them round the radio stations and they started playing it. I got a call from Philips in London to say that I had a record moving up the US charts and I had to go to America to promote it. It got to No. 26 nd No. 32 R&B/ April 1968and it was great to go back to my home town (

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

) with a record in the charts. I was so happy to go home a success." The US single of Bell's "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" featured "Picture Me Gone" by

Chip Taylor Chip Taylor (born James Wesley Voight; March 21, 1940) is an American songwriter and singer noted for writing " Angel of the Morning" and " Wild Thing". Early life Taylor was born on March 21, 1940, in Yonkers, New York. He is the brother of ...

and Al Gorgoni as the B-side: originally issued on the Mod label it had its wide release with the Philips logo. Bell's US success led Philips to release her single in the UK - there the B-side was "I'm Gonna Leave You" a composition by Bell, Springfield and

Lesley Duncan Lesley Cox (née Duncan; 12 August 1943 – 12 March 2010) was an English singer-songwriter, best known for her work during the 1970s. She received much airplay on British radio stations such as BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2, but never achieved ...

- where it failed to chart. An ''I'm Gonna Make You Love Me'' album became Bell's only full-length release to appear on a major chart reaching No. 46 on the US R&B album chart. The summer of 1968 saw the release of another version of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" as a single, this one on Cadet Concept by Aesop's Fables a

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

-based blues/rock unit led by Sonny Bottari. Although this version failed to reach the national charts, it became the third version of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" - after Warwick and Bell's - to receive airplay in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

within the period of a year and a half: within six months the Motown version brought the total to four.

Motown version

"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" was the lead single, released in November 1968, from the duets album ''

Diana Ross & the Supremes Join The Temptations ''Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations'' is, as the title implies, 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 broa ...

''; the track was produced by Frank Wilson along with

Nickolas Ashford Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting-production team and recording duo of Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946). Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carolina, ...

who had sung background on Dee Dee Warwick's track and the other versions produced by Jerry Ross.

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 ...

and

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temptation ...

shared lead vocals, although Otis Williams worked with Ross during a spoken interlude which was original to this version of the song. Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations performed several of the songs from their joint album on their headlining '' TCB''

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of e ...

which aired in December 1968 and it was originally planned that their rendition of " The Impossible Dream", the special's climactic performance, be their joint album's lead single. However radio stations began playing the "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" track off their advance copies of ''Diana Ross & the Supremes Join The Temptations'' compelling Motown to make "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" the single release even though it was not performed on ''TCB''. Indeed, the Ross/Supremes & Temptations version was never to be performed live (the Temptations did perform "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

'', Diana Ross and The Supremes performed the song which was recorded during their farewell performance in Las Vegas in 1970 and Diana Ross performed the song on '' The Hollywood Palace'' as a duet with

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...

). "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" reached No. 2 on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and its R&B charts in January 1969: the ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record W ...

'' 100 Top Pops ranked "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" at No. 1 for the three weeks of 4 January to 18 January 1969 while ''

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 onli ...

'' ranked the single No. 1 on its chart for 25 January 1969. In the UK, the single peaked at number 3 in the Top 50, spending six weeks in the Top 10.

Track listing

*7" Single (21 November 1968) (North America/United Kingdom/Netherlands/Sweden) #"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" – 2:56 #"A Place in the Sun" – 4:20

Personnel

* Lead vocals by

and

* Spoken interlude by Diana Ross and Otis Williams * Background vocals by Mary Wilson,

Cindy Birdsong Cynthia Ann Birdsong (born December 15, 1939) 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 Blu ...

, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, and

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations, on Motown Records. Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968, replacing David Ruffin and sang ...

* Produced by Frank Wilson and

* Instrumentation by

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 ...

and the

Detroit Symphony Orchestra The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

List of cover versions of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me"
at SecondHandSongs.com * {{authority control 1966 songs 1968 singles 1969 singles 1999 singles The Supremes songs The Temptations songs The Lettermen songs Songs written by Jerry Ross (composer) Songs written by Kenny Gamble Song recordings produced by Frank Wilson (musician) Motown singles Dee Dee Warwick songs Songs written by Leon Huff Cashbox number-one singles