"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" is a

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

song most popularly released as a joint single performed by Diana Ross & the Supremes and

the Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield ...

for the

Motown 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 ...

label. This version peaked for two weeks at No. 2 on the

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), o ...

in the United States, selling 900,000 copies in its first two weeks, and at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1969. Written by

Gamble and 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 duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as ...

and Jerry Ross, it was originally a top 20 R&B hit for

Dee Dee Warwick Delia Juanita Warrick (September 25, 1942 – October 18, 2008), known professionally as Dee Dee Warwick, was an American soul singer. Born in East Orange, New Jersey, she was the sister of singer Dionne Warwick, the niece of Cissy Houston, a ...

in 1966 (U.S. No. 88 Pop). Madeline Bell's cover peaked at No. 26 on the Hot 100 on 23 March 1968.

Early versions

Most versions of the song credit the songwriting to Jerry Ross and Kenny Gamble, who were the only two writers named on original record labels. Some recordings also credit Jerry Williams as a third writer, although BMI and some other sources credit

Leon 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 duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as P ...

, rather than Williams. "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" was released as a single by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

as the follow-up to her Top Ten R&B hit "I Want to Be With You"; co-writer Jerry Ross produced the track whose arrangement was by Jimmy Wisner while Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson provided background vocals. This single - whose B-side is the earliest known recorded version of " Yours Until Tomorrow" by

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits " Will You L ...

and

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

- reached No. 13 R&B crossing over to No. 88 Pop in December 1966. Scoring two consecutive Top 20 R&B hits gave Warwick sufficient cachet for her first album release entitled ''I Want to Be With You/I'm Gonna Make You Love Me''. Although Warwick had stronger chart showings than "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", the song became her best-known hit by virtue of the Supremes/Temptations remake. "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" was the song Warwick performed at the 1999 Rhythm and Blues Foundation awards ceremony when she received a Pioneer Award. Jerry Ross overall produced ten recordings of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me": these included a version on

Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (December 8, 1939 – February 20, 2025) was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, who were inducted into the Rock and ...

's 1967 ''Soul Artistry'' album and another by Jay & the Techniques which was featured on the 1968 album release ''Love, Lost & Found''. Ashford & Simpson sang background on all the versions of the song Ross produced with the Jay & the Techniques version also featuring

Melba Moore Beatrice Melba Smith (born October 29, 1945) known by her stage name Melba Moore, is an American singer and actress. Biography Early life and education Moore was born Beatrice Melba Smith on October 29, 1945, in New York City to Gertrude Melba ...

1968

"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" was offered to

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was a British singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop mus ...

who recorded for

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by Netherlands, Dutch electronics company Philips and in 1999 was absorbed into Netherlands, Dutch-United States, American music corporation Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonograph ...

, the UK equivalent of Mercury Records. Springfield passed the song on to Madeline Bell, her friend and regular background vocalist. Springfield sang backup vocals on Bell's version, which was featured on Bell's 1967 Philips album release ''Bell's a Poppin. According to Bell "nothing happened with he albumand the tapes were sent over to America and this one guy took a shine to 'I’m Gonna Make You Love Me'. He printed up 10,000 copies and he sent them round the radio stations and they started playing it. I got a call from Philips in London to say that I had a record moving up the US charts and I had to go to America to promote it. It got to No. 26 nd No. 32 R&B/ April 1968and it was great to go back to my home town (

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

) with a record in the charts. I was so happy to go home a success." The US single of Bell's "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" featured "Picture Me Gone" by

Chip Taylor Chip Taylor (born James Wesley Voight; March 21, 1940) is an American songwriter and singer noted for writing " Angel of the Morning" and " Wild Thing". He is the paternal uncle of actress Angelina Jolie and former actor James Haven. He is the ...

and Al Gorgoni as the B-side: originally issued on the Mod label it had its wide release with the Philips logo. Bell's US success led Philips to release her single in the UK - there the B-side was "I'm Gonna Leave You" a composition by Bell, Springfield and Lesley Duncan - where it failed to chart. An ''I'm Gonna Make You Love Me'' album became Bell's only full-length release to appear on a major chart reaching No. 46 on the US R&B album chart.

Motown version

"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" was the lead single, released in November 1968, from the duets album '' Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations''; the track was produced by Frank Wilson along with Nickolas Ashford who had sung background on Dee Dee Warwick's track and the other versions produced by Jerry Ross.

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 ...

and Eddie Kendricks shared lead vocals, although

Otis Williams Otis Williams (born Otis Miles Jr.; October 30, 1941) is an American second tenor/baritone singer.Ribowsky, Mark (2010). ''Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Endearing Soul of the Temptations''. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. ...

worked with Ross during a spoken interlude which was original to this version of the song. Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations performed several of the songs from their joint album on their headlining '' TCB''

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

which aired in December 1968 and it was originally planned that their rendition of " The Impossible Dream", the special's climactic performance, be their joint album's lead single. However radio stations began playing the "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" track off their advance copies of ''Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations'' compelling Motown to make "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" the single release even though it was not performed on ''TCB''. Indeed, the Ross/Supremes & Temptations version was never to be performed live (the Temptations did perform "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" on ''

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 City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'', Diana Ross and the Supremes performed the song which was recorded during their farewell performance in Las Vegas in 1970 and Diana Ross performed the song on ''

The Hollywood Palace ''The Hollywood Palace'' was an hourlong American television variety show broadcast Saturday nights (except September 1967 to January 1968, when it aired on Tuesday nights) on ABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970. Titled ''The Satur ...

'' as a duet with

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

). A later version of both groups (after both Ross and Kendricks left) performed a live version of the song at Valley Forge in 1972 that can be found on YouTube. "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" reached No. 2 on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and its R&B charts in January 1969: the ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' 100 Top Pops ranked "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" at No. 1 for the three weeks of 4 January to 18 January 1969 while ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' ranked the single No. 1 on its chart for 25 January 1969. In the UK, the single peaked at number 3 in the Top 50, spending six weeks in the Top 10.

Track listing

*7" Single (21 November 1968) (North America/United Kingdom/Netherlands/Sweden) #"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" – 2:56 #"A Place in the Sun" – 4:20

Personnel

* Lead vocals by

and Eddie Kendricks * Spoken interlude by Diana Ross and

* Background vocals by Mary Wilson, Cindy Birdsong, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams,

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations for Motown Records. Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968, replacing David Ruffin and sang w ...

, and

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 M ...

* Produced by Frank Wilson and Nickolas Ashford * Instrumentation by

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 ...

and the

Detroit Symphony Orchestra The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall (Detroit, Michigan), Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown, Detroit, ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

List of cover versions of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me"
at SecondHandSongs.com * {{authority control 1966 songs 1968 singles 1969 singles 1999 singles The Supremes songs The Temptations songs The Lettermen songs Songs written by Jerry Ross (composer) Songs written by Kenny Gamble Song recordings produced by Frank Wilson (musician) Motown singles Dee Dee Warwick songs Songs written by Leon Huff Cashbox number-one singles