"Gettin' Ready for Love" is a 1977 hit song by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

. It was the first single from her ''

Baby It's Me ''Baby It's Me'' is the eighth studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on September 16, 1977, by Motown Records. It peaked at No. 18 on the ''Billboard'' Top 200 and No. 7 on the R&B album chart. The album was produced by producer R ...

'' LP. The song was released on October 16, 1977, by

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. It was written by

Tom Snow Thomas Righter Snow (born 1947 in Princeton, New Jersey) is an American songwriter. Biography Snow has written songs for Gayle McCormick "( Even a Fool Would Let Go" with Kerry Chater – a song covered by a number of artists including Kenn ...

and

Franne Golde Francine Golde, better known as Franne Golde or Frannie Golde, is an American songwriter, musician, singer and writer. She is Songwriter's Hall Of Fame nominee and her songs have appeared on more than 100 million records sold worldwide. Golde h ...

and produced by

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (June 18, 1942 – December 24, 2024) was an American record producer. He began his musical career as a performer while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late ...

. The song reached #27 on the U.S.

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the 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), ...

and #29 in Canada. It also charted in the UK, reaching #23. "Gettin' Ready for Love" was a much bigger hit on the

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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

charts of both the U.S. and Canada, peaking at #8 in the U.S. and #6 in Canada. The song features an alto sax solo and strings at the bridge.

Personnel

– lead vocals *

David Hungate David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American retired bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his ...

– bass guitar *

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

– guitar *

– piano * Tom Scott – saxophone solo *

Jack Ashford Jack Ashford (born May 18, 1934) is an American musician who was a percussionist for Motown Records' in-house Funk Brothers band during the 1960s and early 1970s. Ashford is most famous for playing the tambourine on hundreds of Motown recordings ...

– percussion *

Gene Page Eugene Edgar Page Jr. (September 13, 1939 – August 24, 1998) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and record producer, most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. His sound can be heard in the arrangements he did for Jeffer ...

– strings arrangements,

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto, but is also one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundr ...

– drums

Charts

Later uses

* "Gettin' Ready for Love" was included on the 1985 compilation LP,

Motown Chartbusters ''Motown Chartbusters'' is a series of compilation albums first released by EMI under licence on the Tamla Motown label in Britain. In total, 12 editions were released in the UK between 1967 and 1982. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally called ''Brit ...

150 Hits of Gold. * The song was included in Ross's 1993 compilation LP, '' Forever Diana: Musical Memoirs''. *

Martine McCutcheon Martine Kimberley Sherrie McCutcheon (formerly Ponting, born 14 May 1976) is an English actress and singer. She began appearing in television commercials at an early age and made her television debut in the children's television drama '' Bluebir ...

recorded a karaoke version in 1999 and included it on her 2012 LP, ''The Collection''. * Winston Ward covered "Gettin' Ready for Love" for inclusion on the 2008 compilation LP, ''Northern Soul 2008''.

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gettin' Ready for Love) 1977 singles Diana Ross songs Songs written by Tom Snow Songs written by Franne Golde 1977 songs Motown singles Song recordings produced by Richard Perry Contemporary R&B ballads 1970s ballads Songs about telephone calls