"Love Hangover" is a song by Motown singer Diana Ross, recorded in 1975 and released as a single in March 1976. It rose to number one on the BillboardHot 100, Hot Soul Singles and Hot Dance Club Play charts simultaneously. Producer Hal Davis instructed the song's engineer Russ Terrana to install a strobe light so that Ross could be in the "disco" mindset. As the song changed from ballad to uptempo, Ross became more comfortable with the material; she hummed, sang bit parts, laughed, danced around and even imitated Billie Holiday. The carefree and sensual nature of Ross' vocals and the music's direction helped to sell the song, in addition to the background vocals relying heavily on Donna Summer's 1975 hit "Love to Love You Baby". The song was first released on the albumDiana Ross in February, 1976. The lead single from the album was "I Thought it Took a Little Time". Singing group the 5th Dimension also released "Love Hangover" as a single. Motown then issued Ross' version as a single. Both versions entered the chart the same day. By the time Ross' version of the song reached number one, Ross had reinvented herself as a disco diva and the 5th Dimension's version had peaked at number 80. It won Ross a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance. "Love Hangover" reached number one on May 29, 1976. That week, Casey Kasem reported on American Top 40 that with that song Diana had broken the record for the most number-one hits by a female vocalist. With her fourth number-one, she surpassed Connie Francis, Helen Reddy, Roberta Flack, and Cher, all of whom were tied with three each. During the 1980s, Ross went on to score two more number-one hits, making six, establishing her record for 12 years. Whitney Houston would break this record in 1988 and Madonna in 1990. But counting 12 number-one hits as lead singer of The Supremes, Ross's grand total is 18, a feat surpassed only by Mariah Carey as of 2019.
The song was featured in the 1977 Diane Keaton film Looking for Mr. Goodbar during a bar scene.
Diana Ross sang the song on the episode of The Muppet Show in which she appeared as the guest star.
Octavia St. Laurent walked to this song during one of the runway scenes in the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning and the song is featured on the film's soundtrack.
The song was featured in BBC2's 1995 punk documentary Arena: Punk and the Pistols. Back in 1976, the song had been a favourite of early UK punks such as the Bromley Contingent and Jordan who would dance to the song at Soho-based lesbian nightclub Louise's, where it was the house anthem.
The song was featured in CBC's annual year-end playoff montage on Hockey Night in Canada in 2008.
The song is featured in promos for the final 2014-2015 season of Mad Men.
Remixes
released versions of Ross's version in 1988 and 1993. Almighty Records released a remixed version in 2007. New remixes were released in 2020 by Eric Kupper, peaking at number one on 28 March on the Billboard Dance Club chart.
In 1982 The Associates released a double side 45 single "18 Carat Love Affair" / "Love Hangover".
Background vocals from the original alternate take were sampled by Hardrive in the 1993 House song "No Cure".
British soul singer Pauline Henry recorded a contemporary version of the track in 1995.
The song was sampled in Monica's 1998 hit "The First Night", which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Mariah Carey performed the song also on the . Carey also performed a mix of "Love Hangover" the lead single from her 1999 seventh studio album, Rainbow, "Heartbreaker" on her Angels Advocate Tour between 2009 and 2010, on All The Hits Tour, a co-headlining tour with American singer Lionel Richie in 2017, and second Las Vegas residency, The Butterfly Returns in 2018.
Singer Jody Watley recorded a downtempo version for her 2006 album, The Makeover.
The composition of "Love Hangover" is a two-part medley, with the first section a slow, sultry ballad, then the second section an uptempo disco/rhythm & blues style. The lyrics of the entire song revolve around the theme of "sweet, sweet love".
A remix done by Eric Kupper was released on May 2020.
