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"What You Gave Me"
"What You Gave Me"
Single by Diana Ross
from the album Ross
Released	1978
Genre	Soul, Disco
Label	Motown Records
Songwriter(s)	Ashford & Simpson
Producer(s)	Hal Davis
Diana Ross singles chronology

"What You Gave Me"
"What You Gave Me"
Single by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
from the album Easy
B-side	"How You Gonna Keep It (After You Get It)"
Released	November 1969
Recorded	1968–1969, Hitsville USA
Genre	Soul
Length	2:38
Label	Tamla
Songwriter(s)	Ashford & Simpson
Producer(s)	Ashford & Simpson
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell singles chronology

"What You Gave Me" is a hit duet written and produced by Ashford & Simpson and issued as a single originally by the vocal duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1969 on the Tamla label.

Recorded in the final throes of the Gaye-Terrell duet recordings, the song became the second single from their album, Easy. As with much of the album, there is debate over who sang with Gaye: Terrell, who was undergoing treatment for brain cancer, or the track's co-writer and co-producer, Valerie Simpson.

While Gaye later insisted that Simpson stood in for Terrell, Simpson has maintained that Terrell took part in the recordings. Whatever the case, the song gave the duo a modest charting, peaking at number forty-nine pop and number six R&B.^[1]

Cash Box described it as a "finely honed vocal collaboration."^[2]

Chart history

Weekly charts

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Chart (1969-70)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100^[3]	49
U.S. Billboard R&B	6
U.S. Cash Box Top 100	47

Diana Ross

Chart (1978)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard R&B	86

Year-end charts

Chart (1969)	Rank
U.S. Billboard R&B^[4]^{[deprecated source]}	65

Later versions

David Ruffin also recorded the song for his 1969 album Feelin' Good. It was revived years later as a club hit by Diana Ross in 1978. Her version peaked at #86 on the R&B charts.

Credits

All vocals by Marvin Gaye & Valerie Simpson
Produced by Ashford & Simpson
Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers

References

^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 225.
^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. November 22, 1969. p. 18. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
^ The Top 100 Soul/R&B Singles