Stop! In the Name of Love
Encyclopedia
"Stop! In the Name of Love" is a 1965 song recorded by The Supremes
for the Motown label.
Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, "Stop! In the Name of Love" held the number-one position on the Billboard pop singles
chart in the United States from March 21, 1965 through April 3, 1965, and reached the number-two position on the soul chart.
, and was nominated for the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Rock & Roll Group Vocal Performance, losing to "Flowers on the Wall" by the Statler Brothers
. The song was also honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
's permanent collection of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
The Supremes' choreography for this song, with one hand on the hip and the other outstretched in a "stop" gesture, is equally legendary. Paul Williams
and Melvin Franklin
of The Temptations
taught the girls the routine backstage in London
, before the Supremes' first televised performance of the single on the Ready Steady Go!
special
"The Sound of Motown," hosted by Motown enthusiast Dusty Springfield
. They also performed the song on an episode of the ABC
variety program
Shindig!
which aired on Wednesday, February 25, 1965.
, Gene Pitney
, Nicki French
, Sinitta, Globe
, Johnny Rivers
, C:Real
, Claude François
(as "Stop au nom de l'amour"), Renata Pacini (as "In nome dell'amore") and The Hollies
(who saw their version peaked in America at #29 and in Canada at #31 in 1983). In 1996, Los Flechazos recorded an instrumental version for his EP "En tu Calle". In 1998, a cover version by Jonell Mosser was included in the film Hope Floats
. A eurodance
remix was made for the 2002 Dancemania
compilation Speed 8
. Lil' Wayne sampled the song on the song "Gossip."
The song was covered as part of a mash-up on the Fox series Glee
along with "Free Your Mind" by En Vogue
in the episode "Never Been Kissed
."
The Song was also performed as a slow Ballad By Caitlin Koch as an audition piece for The 2011 Series of XFactor USA.
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
for the Motown label.
Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, "Stop! In the Name of Love" held the number-one position on the Billboard pop singles
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart in the United States from March 21, 1965 through April 3, 1965, and reached the number-two position on the soul chart.
Overview
"Stop! In the Name of Love!" was recorded in January 1965 and released as a single on February 8. The song was included on the Supremes' sixth album, More Hits by The SupremesMore Hits by the Supremes
More Hits by The Supremes is a 1965 studio album by Motown singing group The Supremes. The album, their third regular studio LP, includes two number-one hits: "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Back in My Arms Again", as well as the Top 20 single "Nothing but Heartaches". The album peaked at #6 on...
, and was nominated for the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Rock & Roll Group Vocal Performance, losing to "Flowers on the Wall" by the Statler Brothers
Statler Brothers
The Statler Brothers were an American country music vocal group founded in 1955 in Staunton, Virginia.Originally performing gospel music at local churches, the group billed themselves as The Four Star Quartet, and later The Kingsmen...
. The song was also honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's permanent collection of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
The Supremes' choreography for this song, with one hand on the hip and the other outstretched in a "stop" gesture, is equally legendary. Paul Williams
Paul Williams (The Temptations)
Paul Williams was an American baritone singer and choreographer. Williams is noted for being one of the founding members and original lead singer of the Motown group The Temptations...
and Melvin Franklin
Melvin Franklin
David Melvin English better known by the stage name Melvin Franklin, was an American bass singer. Franklin is best known for his role as a member of Motown singing group The Temptations from 1960 to 1994....
of The Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
taught the girls the routine backstage in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, before the Supremes' first televised performance of the single on the Ready Steady Go!
Ready Steady Go!
Ready Steady Go! or simply RSG! was one of the UK's first rock/pop music TV programmes. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan was assisted by record producer/talent manager Vicki Wickham, who became the producer. It was broadcast from August 1963 until December 1966...
special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
"The Sound of Motown," hosted by Motown enthusiast Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
. They also performed the song on an episode of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
variety program
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
Shindig!
Shindig!
Shindig! was an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz....
which aired on Wednesday, February 25, 1965.
Cover versions and other uses
Cover versions were later recorded by Margie JosephMargie Joseph
Margaret Marie "Margie" Joseph is an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. Her greatest success came in the 1970s, with her biggest hits being her version of Paul McCartney's "My Love", her version of The Supremes' "Stop! In the Name of Love" and her duet with Blue Magic...
, Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
, Nicki French
Nicki French
Nicola S. French is a female English singer and dancer. She is best known for her 1995 dance cover version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart", and for representing the United Kingdom in 2000 at Eurovision in Stockholm.-Career:French provided backing vocals on Rose-Marie's 1992 album, Emotional Exposure...
, Sinitta, Globe
Globe (band)
Globe is a dance-oriented Japanese pop band, formed in 1995 by producer and songwriter Tetsuya Komuro. Originally consisting of Komuro, Keiko Yamada and Marc Panther, the group's singles consistently hit the charts...
, Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...
, C:Real
C:Real
C:Real is a popular Greek pop rock band. They are characterized by their pop rock sound and live performances.-1997–2000: Beginnings:The group was created in 1996 by composer, lyricist, and producer Takis Damaschis. Their first single was released a little after the creation of group and was...
, Claude François
Claude François
Claude François was a French pop singer, songwriter and dancer. He wrote "Comme d'habitude," the original version of "My Way."-Early life:...
(as "Stop au nom de l'amour"), Renata Pacini (as "In nome dell'amore") and The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
(who saw their version peaked in America at #29 and in Canada at #31 in 1983). In 1996, Los Flechazos recorded an instrumental version for his EP "En tu Calle". In 1998, a cover version by Jonell Mosser was included in the film Hope Floats
Hope Floats
Hope Floats is a 1998 American romantic drama film directed by Forest Whitaker, and starring Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick, Jr. and Gena Rowlands....
. A eurodance
Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
remix was made for the 2002 Dancemania
Dancemania
Dancemania is a series of remix compilation albums by i-DANCE. The series deals primarily with dance music, especially eurodance. Despite its tracks have been made by various musicians from all over the world mainly from the European continent, the albums have been released exclusively in Japan.The...
compilation Speed 8
Dancemania Speed
Dancemania Speed is a sub-series of Toshiba EMI's Dancemania compilation series. This series features faster, further remixed versions of recordings from previously released Dancemania albums or faster remixed covers of various famous songs...
. Lil' Wayne sampled the song on the song "Gossip."
The song was covered as part of a mash-up on the Fox series Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
along with "Free Your Mind" by En Vogue
En Vogue
En Vogue is an American female R&B vocal group from Oakland, California assembled by music producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy.The group has won more MTV Video Music Awards than any other female group in MTV history, a total of seven, along with four Soul Train Awards, six American Music...
in the episode "Never Been Kissed
Never Been Kissed (Glee)
"Never Been Kissed" is the sixth episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the 28th episode overall. It was written by Brad Falchuk, directed by Bradley Buecker and premiered on Fox on November 9, 2010. In "Never Been Kissed", the glee club members are assigned a boys...
."
The Song was also performed as a slow Ballad By Caitlin Koch as an audition piece for The 2011 Series of XFactor USA.
Personnel
- Lead vocals by Diana RossDiana RossDiana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
- Backing vocals by Florence BallardFlorence BallardFlorence Glenda Ballard Chapman was an American singer and a founding member of the Motown group The Supremes. From 1963 until 1967, Ballard sang on 16 Top 40 hit Supremes' singles, ten of which hit number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1967, Motown CEO Berry Gordy decided to remove Ballard from...
, Mary WilsonMary Wilson (singer)Mary Wilson is an American singer, formerlymember of the Motown female singing group The Supremes during the 1960s and 1970s. Wilson was the only singer to be a consistent member of the group in its eighteen-year tenure...
and the Andantes - All instruments by The Funk BrothersThe Funk BrothersThe Funk Brothers was the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972...
Chart history
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
2 |
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
3 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
6 |
See also
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1965 (U.S.)