"Never Give You Up" was a single by

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 Rhythm and blues, R&B vocal group the Impressions, inducted into the Rock and Rol ...

that reached no. 20 in the ''

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 ...

'' chart in 1968. It was written by

Gamble & 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 as ...

. Butler was also credited as co-composer. The song has also been covered by

Eddie Floyd Edward Lee Floyd (born June 25, 1937) is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s, including the No. 1 R&B hit song " Knock on Wood". Biography Floyd was born in ...

Buddy Greco Armando Joseph "Buddy" Greco (August 14, 1926 – January 10, 2017) was an American jazz and pop singer and pianist who had a long career in the US and UK. His recordings have sold millions, including "Oh Look A-There Ain't She Pretty", " Up, Up ...

, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, Leonard Julien III,

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

and

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their ...

Background

The credited composers on the single are

Gamble Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

Huff Huff or huffing may refer to: People * Huff (surname), a list of people with the surname Places in the United States * Huff Township, Spencer County, Indiana * Huff, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Huff, Kentucky, an unincorporated co ...

and

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

. The single was released on

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

72798 in April 1968. The song spent 14 weeks 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 ...

chart, eventually peaking at no. 20 on July 6, 1968. It also peaked at no. 16 in Canada the same month. This track was also recorded at the Cameo Parkway Reco Arts studio in Philadelphia and featured musicians who would later go on to play on many groups' hit records recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia for such artists as The Spinners,

The Stylistics The Stylistics are an American, Philadelphia soul group that achieved their greatest chart success in the 1970s. They formed in 1968, with a lineup of singers Russell Thompkins Jr., Herb Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith and James Dunn. All of ...

and

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes were an American soul and R&B vocal group. One of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s, the group's repertoire included soul, R&B, doo-wop, and disco. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in ...

. The personnel on the session included Norman Harris and Bobby Eli on guitar, Ronnie Baker on bass, Leon Huff on piano, and Earl Young on Drums and Vince Montana on vibes. The session was engineered by Joe Tarsia and arranged by Bobby Martin.

Other versions

1960s

Thee Midnighters Thee Midniters were an American rock group, among the first Chicano rock bands to have a major hit in the United States. They were one of the best known acts to come out of East Los Angeles in the 1960s, with a cover of "Land of a Thousand Dance ...

had their version of the song as the B side of their "Chicano Power" single which was released around 1967 - 1968.

covered the song which appeared on his 1968

Stax Streaming API for XML (StAX) is an application programming interface (API) to read and write XML documents, originating from the Java programming language community. Traditionally, XML APIs are either: * DOM based - the entire document is read in ...

album, ''I've Never Found A Girl''. A version by Shirley And The Shirelles was recorded. It was included as the B side of single "Go Away And Find Yourself" which was released on

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

in 1969.

recorded a version of the song which appeared as the B side of his single, "Everybody Gets To Go To The Moon", released on

Wand Records Wand Records was an American independent record label, started by Florence Greenberg in 1961 as a subsidiary of Scepter Records. Artists on Wand Records included The Isley Brothers, The Kingsmen, Mel Wynn & the Rhythm Aces, Chuck Jackson, and the ...

in 1970. It was also on his ''

Let the Sunshine In "Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" (commonly called "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", "The Age of Aquarius" or "Let the Sunshine In") is a medley of two songs written for the 1967 musical ''Hair'' by James Rado and Gerome ...

'' album which was previously released on Scepter Records SPS 579 in 1969. A group called

The Road ''The Road'' is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that ha ...

had a version on their self-titled album in which was released on

Kama Sutra The ''Kama Sutra'' (; sa, कामसूत्र, , ; ) is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ''Kama Sutra'' is neither exclusively nor predominantly ...

in 1969.

1970s to 1980s

In 1971,

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...

released a version of this song on his album Black Moses. In 1977, a single by

Bonnie Bramlett Bonnie Bramlett (born Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell, November 8, 1944) is an American singer and occasional actress known for performing with her husband, Delaney Bramlett, as Delaney & Bonnie. She continues to sing as a solo artist. Life and career ...

and

Dobie Gray Dobie Gray (born Lawrence Darrow Brown; July 26, 1940 – December 6, 2011) was an American singer and songwriter whose musical career spanned soul, country, pop, and musical theater. His hit songs included " The 'In' Crowd" in 1965 and "Dr ...

was released on Capricorn 2089 039. Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers recorded a version which appeared on their 1979 '' Bustin' Loose'' album.

1990s to 2010s

The 2005 album ''Push Comes to Shove'' by rapper M.E.D. featured the song "Never Give U Up", produced by Oh No, who built the instrumental backing around a portion of the Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers version of "Never Give You Up". Leonard Julien III recorded the song and it appeared on his ''Reflections of Soul'' album which came out on Modeste Records in 2007.

recorded the song as well and it appears on the RCA 88697603432 release of his 2009 ''

Soulbook ''Soulbook'' is the 25th studio album by Rod Stewart. Like his previous five albums, ''Soulbook'' features Stewart singing old material; for this album he sings classic material from Motown and the soul genre. It was released on 17 October 2009 ...

'' album.

recorded a version which appeared on their ''

Brothers A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

'' album which was released in 2010. Their version was also used in the Series 3 Episode 4 of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

series ''

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

'', which starred

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

. Tony Strong & the Philly Soul recorded a version that was included on their 2012 album "It Ain’t Over".Soul Express, March 2013
INTRODUCING... TONY STRONG & THE PHILLY SOUL *
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References

External links

Jerry Butler - Never Gonna Give You Up (1968)

Buddy Greco - Never gonna give you up - A Danny Whitfield Mix

Bonnie Bramlett & Dobie Gray - Never gonna give you up - Danny Whitifield Mix
{{DEFAULTSORT:Never Give You Up 1968 singles Jerry Butler songs The Black Keys songs Songs written by Kenny Gamble Songs written by Leon Huff Songs written by Jerry Butler 1968 songs