"It's My House" is a ballad composed by the rhythm and blues writing team of Ashford and Simpson, recorded by

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 ...

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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 1979 album release '' The Boss'', from which it was issued as the second single on 20 October 1979.

Background and commercial reception

Valerie Simpson of Ashford and Simpson described "It's My House" with the following: "The song is about a modern woman who tells her lover: 'I'm independent and may fit you into my space - but on my terms.' Those are Diana's ideas." The song peaked at No. 27 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart, and (the ''

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'' Pop Singles No. 101-No. 150 ranking would rank "It's My House" as high as No. 106). The UK Singles Chart would afford a No. 32 peak to "It's My House", which was the third UK single from ''The Boss'' album - following the title cut and "No One Gets the Prize", both of which fared less well on the UK charts than "It's My House" (the UK chart peaks of "The Boss" and "No One Gets the Prize" being respectively No. 40 and No. 59). Ross' version of "It's My House" would also statistically best a reggae-styled cover version by Storm which despite debuting on the UK Top 75 singles ranking a week prior to the Ross single would rise no higher than No. 36. reaching No. 71 on the Australian national singles ranking, "It's My House" would have its best global chart showing in South Africa where the

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hit parade ranked "It's My House" as high as No. 7.

Personnel

*Lead vocals by Diana Ross *Background vocals by Stephanie Spruill, Maxine Waters and Julia Waters *Produced by Ashford & Simpson

Charts

Covers and sampling

Besides the cover by Storm which reached No. 36 UK, reggae-style recordings of "It's My House" have also been made by

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(album ''Love is in the Air''/ 1980) and Billy Biggs (album ''What's Your Sign''/ 1980). Latin singer La Lupe covered a Spanish language version of the song ("Es Mi Casa") on her 1980 album ''"En algo nuevo,"'' which also happened to be her final original album shortly before she announced her retirement. Lady Gaga's song "Replay" from her 2020 album, '' Chromatica'', features a

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of "It's My House".

References

{{authority control 1979 singles 1979 songs Diana Ross songs Song recordings produced by Ashford & Simpson Songs written by Nickolas Ashford Songs written by Valerie Simpson Motown singles