I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking

Infobox Single
Name = I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking
Artist = The Supremes
from Album = High Energy
Format = Vinyl single
Released = 1976
Recorded = 1976
Genre = Disco/soul
Label = Motown
Length = 3:33
Writer = Brian Holland
Eddie Holland
Producer = Brian Holland
Edward Holland, Jr.
Last single = "High Energy"
(1976)
This single = "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking"
(1976)
Next single = "You're My Driving Wheel"
(1976)

"I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking" is a disco-styled soul single composed by the Holland brothers Eddie and Brian, members of the former Holland-Dozier-Holland team and was released as a single by Motown vocal group The Supremes in 1976 on the Motown label. It's notable for it being the last top forty single the group would score before their contract with Motown expired the following year.

Overview

Recording

By 1976, the Supremes were four years without a top 40 recording and were constantly changing group members. After departures from Jean Terrell, Lynda Laurence and Cindy Birdsong - two times within four years - de-facto group leader Mary Wilson struggled to keep the group going. After hiring Scherrie Payne to lead them on their self-titled 1975 album, the group found themselves in search of a group member again after Birdsong left due to problems with the group's management team, led by Wilson's husband Pedro Ferrer. After Birdsong split in early 1976, Wilson eventually found another former Wonderlove background singer, multi-vocal talent Susaye Greene to complete the trio again. All of the tracks had been completed with Birdsong, but Greene was brought in to overdub her vocals on two tracks. Among those two were "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking". Greene added in a high register vocal reminiscent of her former Wonderlove member Deniece Williams which again made it a different Supremes recording than they were used to. With Greene in the lineup adding in high vocals, Wilson comfortably in the lower vocal regions and Payne with a commanding soprano lead, this allegedly composed of the strongest vocal lineup of the Supremes' entire career.

Reception

Released in March of 1976, the single caught buzz among the group's disco fan base as well as pop and R&B radio, who had since 1973 been shunning from Supremes singles much or less blamed for the dismal promotion by Motown Records' staff. Because of the return of the Holland brothers to Motown and their reunion with the Supremes, hype was created for the single and it soon led to a rare hit for the group heading into the autumn of their heyday. The single eventually peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 25 on the R&B singles chart, and hit number one on Billboard's disco chart, becoming the second number-one single on that chart. It was also the Supremes' last of thirty-three singles to hit the top 40 nearly thirteen years after first hitting the top 40 with "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes". Within a year after this single's release, the Supremes disbanded.

Credits

*Lead vocals by Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene
*Background vocals by Mary Wilson, Cindy Birdsong and Susaye Greene
*Produced by Brian Holland and Eddie Holland