"In and Out of Love" is a 1967 song recorded by

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 successf ...

for the Motown label. It was the second single issued with the group's new billing of ''Diana Ross & the Supremes'', the penultimate Supremes single written and produced by Motown production team

Holland–Dozier–Holland Holland–Dozier–Holland was a songwriting and production team consisting of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. The trio wrote, arranged and produced many songs that helped define the Motown sound in the 1960s. Du ...

, and the last single to feature the vocals of original member

Florence Ballard Florence Glenda Chapman (''née'' Ballard; June 30, 1943 – February 22, 1976) was an American singer and a founding member of the Motown vocal female group the Supremes. She sang on 16 top 40 singles with the group, including ten number-o ...

Recording

By the time of the recording of "In and Out of Love," The Supremes had become the most successful American music group of all time, with ten number-one pop singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 to their credit. In the midst of their success, conflicts between Supremes members Diana Ross,

and Mary Wilson arose. Ballard was uneasy about the group's direction and felt her role was being reduced in the group she first founded. Motown's premier

production team A production team is the group of technical staff who produce a play, television show, recording, or film. Generally the term refers to all individuals responsible for the technical aspects of creating of a particular product, regardless of wher ...

(H–D–H) recorded the track for "In and Out of Love" originally in Detroit with

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 ...

on March 2, 1967 during the same session for " The Happening" and " Reflections," but subsequently rerecorded the track six weeks later in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Ross added her lead vocals on June 12, 1967 with Wilson and Ballard adding their vocals the following day on June 13. It would be Ballard's final session as a Supreme. By mid-1967, H–D–H, like Ballard, grew increasingly frustrated with their position at Motown. Lyricist

Eddie Holland Edward Holland Jr. (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Holland was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Although he was an early Motown artist who recorded minor hit singles such as "Jamie", he ...

convinced his brother

Brian Holland Brian Holland (born February 15, 1941) is an American songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Holland–Dozier–Holland, the songwriting and production team that was responsible for much of the Motown sound, and numerous h ...

and their partner

Lamont Dozier Lamont Herbert Dozier (; June 16, 1941 – August 8, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. He co-wrote and produced 14 US ''Billboard'' number-one hits and four number ones in the UK. Career Doz ...

to stage a work slowdown, and for much of 1967 the trio turned out virtually no product. After one last Supremes single, " Forever Came Today," in early 1968, H–D–H left Motown, prompting a series of lawsuits between the label and the songwriters that lasted over a decade. By July 1967, Motown CEO

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record l ...

had fired Ballard, replacing her with Cindy Birdsong of Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles. One week after her dismissal, the vocals of Ballard and fellow member Mary Wilson were

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

by in-house session singers

the Andantes The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by Ma ...

and multitracked for the final single. Diana Ross & The Supremes performed "In and Out of Love" live on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

's ''

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

'' on Sunday, November 19, 1967. The single proved immensely popular with the fans as it was chosen by '' American Bandstand'' voters to be the song they wanted for that summer's dance contest. It remained at #1 for 4 (four) weeks on the ''American Bandstand'' chart.

Reception

The release of "In and Out of Love" was successful, peaking at number nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number 16 on the R&B Singles chart, and number 13 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 late autumn 1967. The single also reached number 10 on the ''Cashbox'' chart. '' Cash Box'' said that it has "a witty combination of orchestration and beat a la

Motor City 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 ...

with the sweep and splendor of a folk-country ballad."

Personnel

*Lead vocals by Diana Ross *Background vocals by

, Mary Wilson, and

(Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow and Louvain Demps) *Instrumentation by Los Angeles musicians **Bass by Carol Kaye

Track listing

*7" single (25 October 1967) (North America/United Kingdom/Spain) #"In and Out of Love" – 2:36 #"I Guess I'll Always Love You" – 2:43

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:In and Out of Love (The Supremes Song) 1967 singles The Supremes songs Songs written by Holland–Dozier–Holland Motown singles Psychedelic soul songs 1967 songs Song recordings produced by Brian Holland Song recordings produced by Lamont Dozier