"It's My House" is a ballad composed by the

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

writing team of

Ashford and Simpson Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting, production and recording duo composed of Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946). Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carol ...

, recorded by

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 ...

icon

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 ...

for her 1979 album release '' The Boss'', from which it was issued as the third and final single on 20 October 1979 by the label.

Background and commercial reception

Valerie Simpson of

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 ''

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 ...

'' Pop Singles No. 101-No. 150 ranking ranked "It's My House" as high as No. 106). The UK Singles Chart afforded 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" also statistically bested a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

-styled

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

by Storm which despite debuting on the UK Top 75 singles ranking a week prior to the Ross single rose no higher than No. 36. Reaching No. 71 on the Australian national singles ranking, "It's My House" had its best global chart showing in South Africa where the

Springbok Radio Springbok Radio (spelled ''Springbokradio'' in Afrikaans, ) was a South African nationwide radio station that operated from 1950 to 1985. History SABC's decision in December 1945 to develop a commercial service was constrained by post-war financia ...

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 Salena Jones (from the 1980 album ''Love is in the Air'') and Billy Biggs (from the 1980 album ''What's Your Sign''). Latin singer

La Lupe Guadalupe Victoria Yolí Raymond (23 December 1936 – 29 February 1992), better known as La Lupe, was a Cuban singer of boleros, guarachas and Latin soul known for her energetic, sometimes controversial performances. Following the release o ...

covered a

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

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 Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

's song "Replay" from her 2020 album, ''

Chromatica ''Chromatica'' is a studio album by American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga, released on May 29, 2020, by Interscope Records and its subsidiary Streamline. Gaga supervised the production with longtime collaborator BloodPop and a variety of other pr ...

'', features a sample of "It's My House".. Mejja from Kenya also sampled the song with his hit Niko poa produced by Clemo of Calif records.

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

performed an acoustic guitar version of the song for presenter

Andy Cohen Andrew Joseph Cohen (born June 2, 1968) is an American radio and television talk show host, producer, and writer. He is the host and executive producer of ''The Real Housewives'' Multimedia franchise, franchise and Bravo (American TV network), B ...

on his birthday in 2018.

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