"Woman in Love" is a romantic ballad which afforded
the Three Degrees
The Three Degrees is an American female vocal group formed circa 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although 16 women have been members over the years, the group has always been a trio. The current line-up consists of Helen Scott, Valerie Holi ...
a top-ten UK hit in 1979.
Composition and Twiggy recording
"Woman in Love" was written by
Frank Musker
Frank John Musker (born 1951) is a British songwriter and composer. Most prolific in the 1980s and 1990s, he worked with artists such as Sheena Easton, the Babys, Robert Miles, Jennifer Rush, Bucks Fizz, Air Supply, Lucio Battisti, Zucchero, Lisa ...
and Dominic Bugatti around the time of the March–April 1977 UK top-ten tenure of the
Mary MacGregor
Mary MacGregor (born May 6, 1948) is an American singer. She is best known for singing the 1976 song "Torn Between Two Lovers", which topped the ''Billboard'' charts for two weeks.
Career
MacGregor was born May 6, 1948, in St. Paul, Minneso ...
hit "
Torn Between Two Lovers
"Torn Between Two Lovers" is a song written by Peter Yarrow (of the folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary) and Phillip Jarrell that speaks about a love triangle, and laments that "loving both of you is breaking all the rules". Mary MacGregor recorde ...
", which according to Musker provided the template for "Woman in Love". Three Degrees lead vocalist
Sheila Ferguson
Sheila Diana Ferguson (born October 8, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and author. She was the second longest-serving member of the 1970s American female soul music group The Three Degrees, singing lead vocals on most of the g ...
would be amazed that Musker and Bugatti could so convincingly express the feminine viewpoint evinced in their song's lyrics, to which Musker's response was: "She failed to realise…that the words of Woman In Love were the words that most men would like to hear their woman say."
The song's first recording was by
Twiggy
Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London.
...
, which was released as a single in May 1977 entitled "A Woman in Love". Performed by Twiggy on the 2 June 1977 broadcast of ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
'', the track would garner sufficient interest for an eighth place ranking on the "Star Breakers" list of singles just below the
UK Top 50
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
dated 18 June 1977, but would fail to rise any higher.
The Three Degrees version
After being unsuccessfully pitched to
Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist
* Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player
* Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer
* Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (1879 ...
, "Woman in Love" was in 1978 placed with the Three Degrees to record as the one slow-tempo number for their album '' New Dimensions'', recorded that summer in both London and Los Angeles with
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
maven
Giorgio Moroder
Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...
, with "Woman in Love" being one of the three album tracks recorded in Los Angeles. The dance track "Giving Up, Giving In" was issued as the lead single from ''New Dimensions'' before the album was completed, that single being rush-released in the UK in August 1978 and reaching #12 on the UK chart.
"Woman in Love" would serve as the album's second single with a UK release on 5 January 1979, with Ariola evidently waiting out the pre-Christmas period when product by lower-profile recording artists tended to be overlooked. Debuting at #64 on the UK Top 75 singles chart dated 13 January 1979 – the chart immediately subsequent to its single release – "Woman in Love" rose in its second and third charting weeks to respectively #18 and #5, followed by a three week #3 chart peak tenure on the chart from 3–17 February, and thus established itself as the Three Degrees' runner-up UK career record, bested only by their 1974 #1 hit "
When Will I See You Again
"When Will I See You Again" is a song released in 1974 by American soul group The Three Degrees from their third album, ''The Three Degrees''. The song was written and produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Sheila Ferguson sang the lead, acc ...
".
In the United States, "Woman in Love" had been utilized as the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
for the November single release of "Giving Up, Giving In", with the latter title having become a comparatively minor hit reaching No. 39 on the
R&B 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 ...
in ''
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 ...
'' magazine. Released in the US as an A-side single in February 1979, "Woman in Love" would statistically best "Giving Up, Giving In" with a No. 24 R&B peak but also fail to reestablish the Three Degrees as current R&B hitmakers, in fact becoming the group's final R&B chart appearance. "Woman in Love" did afford the Three Degrees a third and final appearance on ''Billboards
Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
top 50 ranking, albeit rising no higher than No. 50.
Track listings
7": Ariola / ARO 141 (UK)
# "Woman in Love" – 4:09
# "Out of Love Again" – 3:55
7": Ariola / 7742 (US)
# "Woman in Love" – 3:57
# "Out of Love Again" – 3:55
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Other versions
Apart from the original version by Twiggy, the song was also recorded in 1977 - as "A Woman in Love" - by
Chelsia Chan
Puan Sri Chelsia Chan, also known as Chan Chau Ha is Hong Kong based actress and singer-songwriter. Chan joined the music industry after winning the first prize at an amateur creative singing contest in 1975 in Hong Kong with the English song " ...
for her album ''Because of You''. A 1979 single release for
Kasey Cisyk
Kvitka "Kasey" Cisyk ( uk, Квітка Цісик; Квітослава-Орися Цісик, ''Kvitka Tsisyk''; April 4, 1953Sharifah Aini for her 1979
covers album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...