Don't Leave Me This Way

Background:

Thelma Houston is an American Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter and actress. She is widely known for her cover of the Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes song “Don't Leave Me This Way” (1976), which topped the Billboard Hot 100, the Hot Soul Singles and the Hot Dance Club Play charts. The song also brought the singer her first and only (to date) Grammy Award. A remix version of the song was released in 1995 and rose to No. 19 on the Hot Dance Club Play and No. 35 in the U.K. Entering show business in 1966, Houston scored her first album with Dunhill in 1969 before moving to Motown in the early 1970s. She recorded eight studio albums with the Berry Gordy formed company, including the successful “Any Way You Like It” (1976), which spawned the international hit “Don't Leave Me This Way.” After parting ways with Motown, she recorded with RCA (“Breakwater Cat,” 1980 and “Never Gonna Be Another One,” 1981) and MCA (“Thelma Houston,” 1983 and “Qualifying Heat,” 1984) before taking a break from recording in the mid 1980s. In 1990, she released “Throw You Down” under Reprise Records, but did not release another studio album until 17 years later with “A Woman's Touch” (2007), which was released with Shout Factory. Houston has also contributed to several film soundtracks, including “Thank God It's Friday” (1978) and “Lean on Me” (1989).

As an actress, Houston has appeared in the films “Death Scream” (1975, TV), “Game Show Models” (1977) and “And God Created Woman” (1988). She has also guest starred in various TV shows, including “Cagney & Lacey,” “Simon & Simon” and “Tall Tales & Legends.” In 2000, she established herself on stage with her starring role in the musical “Fame” in Australia.

Houston is an avid supporter of a variety of charitable causes, including the fight against AIDS.

Thelma Jackson

Childhood and Family:

Born Thelma Jackson on May 7, 1946, in Leland, Mississippi, Thelma Houston was the daughter of a mother who picked cotton. She and her three sisters were raised primarily in Long Beach, California. She has a daughter and a son.

Fame

Career:

Thelma Houston began her music career with the gospel group the Art Reynolds Singers and soon caught the eye of arranger/writer Jimmy Webb. She signed a recording contract with Dunhill Records and her debut album, “Sunshower,” was launched in 1969 with Webb serving as the producer. The album earned her notice even though none of the singles charted.

Houston joined Motown Records in 1971 and released a self-titled album for the company in 1973. Recorded in 1972, the R&B album consisted of 11 tracks, including the Kris Kristofferson/Fred Foster written song “Me and Bobby McGee,” which was first recorded by Roger Miller in 1969. In 1974, after a series of uncharted singles, the singer scored her first R&B hit with the song “You've Been Doing Wrong for So Long,” which peaked at No.64 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart. The song also brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Also in 1974, Houston made her debut in front of the TV cameras by playing various characters on the ABC comedy series “The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine.” After the cancellation of the show, she began acting classes and scored her first real acting job in 1975 when she was cast in the ABC movie “Death Scream,” which starred Raul Julia. On the music front, she released the album “I've Got the Music in Me.”

Houston's music breakthrough arrived in 1976 when she covered the Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes disco hit “Don't Leave Me This Way” for her studio album “Any Way You Like It.” Houston's version emerged as a huge success. Produced by Hal Davis, the song rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles, the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum by RIAA. Outside the U.S., the song made the Top 10 in South Africa (#1), Canada (#4), the Netherlands (#4), Sweden (#4), Australia (#6) and Germany (#9) and the Top 20 in Spain (#11), the U.K. (#13), France (#13), Italy (#15), New Zealand (#17) and Austria (#18). “Don't Leave Me This Way” won her a 1978 Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. “Any Way You Like It” also spawned the No. 1 Hot Dance Club Songs hit with the title track and “If It's the Last Thing I Do,” a standard written by Charlie Chaplin that rose to No. 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 12 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Also in 1976, Houston recorded the songs “Steal on Home” and “Razzle Dazzle” for the soundtrack to the film “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings,” which was directed by John Badham and starred Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor. She also performed “One Out of Every Six” for the motion picture “Norman... Is That You” (1976), directed by George Schlatter, and provided backup vocals for the Motown label Jermaine Jackson's album “My Name Is Jermaine.”

In 1977, Houston released a duet album titled “Thelma & Jerry” for Motown. It was her first collaboration with singer/songwriter Jerry Butler. The album produced the single “It's a Lifetime Thing,” which peaked at No. 84 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The same year, she made her feature film acting debut as Dana Sheridan in “Game Show Models” (1977), a comedy written and directed by David N. Gottlieb.

Houston released the album “The Devil in Me” in 1978. It was a minor commercial success and generated the hit “I'm Here Again,” which rose to No. 21 and No. 18 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play, respectively. Other notable songs included “I Can't Go On Living Without Your Love,” “Triflin'” and “Your Eyes.” Later that same year, she released the album “Ready to Roll.” Different from some of the singles on her previous album, the singles from “Ready to Roll,” including “Midnight Mona,” “I Wanna Start My Life All Over Again,” “Can't We Try” and “Am I Expecting Too Much,” received little radio play. The second single, “Saturday Night, Sunday Morning,” went to No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 19 on the R&B chart and No. 33 on the Dance chart. Still in 1978, Houston was reunited with Jerry Butler for the album “Two to One.” It produced the singles “Don't Pity Me” and “I'm Not Strong Enough (To Love You).” She also recorded the track “Love Masterpiece” for the soundtrack of the Jeff Goldblum and Debra Winger vehicle “Thank God It's Friday” (1987), which was co-produced by Motown Productions for Columbia Pictures. The song enjoyed respectable commercial success.

Recorded in 1978, Houston released the album “Ride to the Rainbow” in 1979 for Motown. It contained powerful songs like “Imaginary Paradise,” “I Wanna Be Back In Love Again” and “Just a Little Piece of You,” but they were never released as singles and the album suffered commercial failure. “Ride to the Rainbow” produced the minor hit with a cover version of the group The Miracles’ “Love Machine,” which became a popular song with club DJ's in the U.S. despite failing to enter any charts. The song enjoyed better luck in Asia, where it peaked at No. 1 in Japan. Lured by the song's success, “Ride to the Rainbow” was re-released in Japan under the new title “Love Machine.” Houston also re-released “Saturday Night, Sunday Morning” for “Ride to the Rainbow.”

After leaving Motown, Houston signed with RCA Records and released the album “Breakwater Cat” in 1980. A reunion with Jimmy Webb, the album included the tracks “Suspicious Minds,” “Breakwater Cat,” “Down The Backstairs of My Life” and “Something We May Never Know.” Her second album for RCA, “Never Gonna Be Another One,” followed in 1981. She failed to make an impact on the pop charts with the album, but the album did better in the urban and dance/club music markets. 1982 saw Motown release Houston's “Reachin' All Around,” which was comprised of previously unreleased material recorded while she was working with the company.

In 1983, Houston launched “Thelma Houston” under MCA Records. The album produced two moderate R&B hits with the singles “Working Girl” (#46) and “Just Like All the Rest” (#80). The follow-up, “Qualifying Heat,” hit the music stores in 1984 and was a success. The single “You Used To Hold Me So Tight,” which was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, rose to No. 13 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 7 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. The album also produced the hit singles “I'd Rather Spend the Bad Times with You, Than the Good Times with Someone New” (#4 US Dance) and “(I Guess) It Must Be Love” (#59 US R&B). Still in 1984, she recorded “Hot Dance” and “To Be Free” for the soundtrack of the film “Getting Physical,” which was directed by Steven Hilliard Stern.

Houston took a break from recording in the mid 1980s and explored her interest in acting. She subsequently appeared as a guest star in the television shows “Cagney & Lacey” (1985, as Ellie Hendricks), “Simon & Simon” (1986, as Venutia) and “Tall Tales & Legends” (1986, as Edna). In 1987, she portrayed Ms. Bonner in the CBS Schoolbreak Special “Little Miss Perfect,” opposite Mary Tanner Bailey, Lisa Wilcox, Victor Rivers and Eliza Roberts, among other actors. In 1988, she was featured in the film “And God Created Woman,” which starred Rebecca De Mornay, Vincent Spano and Frank Langella.

Houston briefly returned to music in 1989 when she rerecorded the song “Lean on Me” with The Winans for the motion picture of the same title, which starred Morgan Freeman. The song peaked at No. 73 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The same year, she also co-wrote and provided backup vocals for the song “Be Yourself” for the Patti LaBelle album of the same name. Houston released a new album the next year called “Throw You Down,” which was released with Reprise Records and produced by Richard Perry. The title track rose to No. 6 on the U.S. dance chart. The album also featured the R&B hits “Out of My Hands” (#82) and “High” (#66).

In 1995, Houston revived “Don't Leave Me This Way” in a remix. The new version went to No. 19 on the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart and No. 35 in the U.K. She went on to produce singles throughout the reminder of the 1990s, including “I Need Somebody Tonight” (1996), “All of That” (1998) and “Let It Be” (1999, with Roger Daltrey). She also made guest appearances with guitarist Scott Henderson on his Atlantic CD “Tore Down House” and guitarist Eric Henderson on his CD “Faces” (both 1997). In 1998, she portrayed a character in the Jonathan Demme film “Beloved,” which starred Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton and Kimberly Elise, and appeared in the film “54,” which was written and directed by Mark Christopher.

Entering the new millennium, Houston toured Australia in the Broadway musical “Fame.” The production earned rave reviews and was a commercial successful there. Upon returning to the U.S., she toured with Chic and Nile Rodgers and served as one of the opening acts of the finale of Cher's “Farewell Tour” in Toronto in 2003.

On August 14, 2007, Houston released “A Woman's Touch,” her new studio album in seventeen years. The lead single, “Brand New Day,” rose to No. 20 on the Billboard Dance Chart.

On April 22, 2009, Houston performed “Don't Leave Me This Way” on “American Idol.” She performed the same song on “America's Got Talent” on September 16, 2009.

Awards:

• Grammy: Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, “Don't Leave Me This Way,” 1978