Although its sultry style recalls the Pointer Sisters' first American top-ten hit, the 1978 number two hit "Fire", "Slow Hand" was not written for the group; in fact John Bettis stated that "the Pointer Sisters were the furthest [act] from [the composers'] minds."[2] However producer Richard Perry said he "knew 'Slow Hand' [would be] an instant smash [hit]...that...would recapitulate and expand on the intimacy [of] 'Fire'."[3] Like "Fire"—which also featured Anita Pointer on lead—"Slow Hand" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, for 3 weeks, behind "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. "Slow Hand" reached that position in August 1981 when it also reached number seven on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In September 1981, the single was certified Gold by the RIAA.[4] "Slow Hand" also afforded the Pointer Sisters international success, including the first appearance by the group in the top-ten on the UK Singles Chart.
The song was covered in April 1982 by country singer Conway Twitty with minor lyric changes to accommodate a male singer. His version, on Elektra Records, topped the BillboardHot Country Singles chart for two weeks that June, and was his last multi-week number-one song, and his last gold record.[16]
