"Ain't No Mountain High Enough
" is an R&B/soul song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell for the Tamla (Motown) label. The song became a hit a second time in 1970, when a cover by fellow Motown artist Diana Ross became a number-one hit on the Billboard
Hot 100 chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
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AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH TICKETS
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History
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell original
The original
1967 version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was a top twenty hit. According to record producers, Terrell was a little nervous and intimidated during recording because she hadn't rehearsed the lyrics. Terrell recorded her vocals alone with producers
Harvey Fuqua and
Johnny Bristol, who added Gaye's vocal at a later date.
[1] "Ain't No Mountain" peaked at number nineteen on the
Billboard pop charts, and went to number three on the R&B charts.
This original version of "Ain't No Mountain", produced by Fuqua and Bristol, was a care-free, danceable, and romantic love song that became the signature duet between Gaye and Terrell. Its success led to a string of more Ashford/Simpson penned duets (including "
You're All I Need to Get By", "
Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and "
Your Precious Love").
The Gaye/Terrell version was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame in
1999, and is regarded today as one of the most important records ever released by Motown.
Diana Ross version
After the Top 20 success of her first single, "
Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)", Ashford and Simpson had Ross re-record "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". Initially, Ross was apprehensive, as she had already covered the song as a member of the Supremes (see below). Eventually, however, she was convinced to make the recording. The new cover re-imagined Gaye and Terrell's duet as a dramatic six-minute opus, primarily comprised of spoken word passages from Ross, with the
Andantes, Jimmy Beavers, and Ashford and Simpson as backing singers.
Motown chief
Berry Gordy didn't like the record upon first hearing it. He hated the spoken-word passages and wanted the song to begin with the climactic chorus/bridge. It was not until radio stations nationwide were editing their own versions and adding it to their playlists that Ashford and Simpson were able to convince Gordy to release an edited three-minute version as a single. Ross' version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" rose up to number one on both the pop and R&B singles charts
[2]., and Ross received a Grammy nomination for
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Ross's version was later sampled in
Jadakiss's song
Can't Stop Me.
Notable covers
With The Supremes, Diana Ross recorded a version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" which was more faithful to the Terrell-Gaye original version as a duet with
the Temptations. That song was an album cut from a joint LP released by Motown Records in
1968 on the two superstar groups, titled
Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations
.
1981 saw the recording by
Inner Life of the underground dance classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", produced by
Patrick Adams and
Greg Carmichael, remixed by
Larry Levan, and released on the
Salsoul label. The same year saw an upbeat disco version by the
Boys Town Gang who recorded it as a medley with another Ashford & Simpson song, "Remember Me". The full version of this song is nearly 14 minutes long and can be found on their album
Cruisin the Street
.
Stacy Lattisaw and
Howard Hewett sang "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" on
Personal Attention
album in
1988.
In 1990, singer Adams Hambüger-Hatt released a cover in Germany titled
Es keine Berg hoch genug
.
Australian Rock legend
Jimmy Barnes released a Motown-styled album, titled
Soul Deep
, in
1991 with twelve covers; one of them was his rock version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". This cover reached #28 in
Australia in
1992 [3]
In
1993, at the end of the film
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
,
Whoopi Goldberg and most of the cast of the movie, including future
neo-soul superstar
Lauryn Hill, mixed both the Gaye/Terrell and Diana Ross solo versions of the song together for a performance of "Ain't No Mountain" at the climax of the film. The Gaye/Terrell version also frequently turns up, often as part of a sing-along, in "feel-good" movies, such as
Remember the Titans
and
Stepmom
.
Former
Doobie Brother Michael McDonald recorded the song as part of his "Motown" album in
2003. The version was used in a commercial for
MCI and in the film
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
.
Swedish pop band
Play recorded the song for their 2003 album
Replay
. This version appeared in the trailer for the
2006 film
Last Holiday
.
In 2006,
Amy Winehouse recorded the song
Tears Dry On Their Own for her album
Back to Black, which keeps the melody and instrumentation of Ain't No Mountain High Enough, but which contains different, original lyrics written by Winehouse.
Portions of the song were interpolated on the
Jessica Simpson single "
A Public Affair".
In
2007, independent hip hop artist
Young Son released a song called
A Timeless Classic which heavily sampled the Diana Ross version.
Credits
Gaye/Terrell version
- All vocals by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
- Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers and Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Ross version
- Lead Vocals by Diana Ross
- Background Vocals by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Joshie Armstead, Jimmy Beavers, and The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps
- Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Notes
- Chin, Brian (2001). Liner notes for ''Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell: The Complete Duets''. New York: Motown Records/UMG Recordings.
- Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004
- Chart Position @ Australian-Charts.com Retrieved May 3 2009
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