Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way (1977)

"Don't Leave Me This Way" is an RnB/Soul?Disco song written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert. First charting as a hit for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes , an act on Gamble & Huff's Philedelphia International label in 1975, "Don't Leave Me This Way" was later a hit single for both Thelma Houston and The Communards and a haunting version was later produced by British producer Black Grassin 2006 featuring the vocals of Dominique Noiret. the Blue Notes' recording reached #3 on the US Billboard Disco charts and later reached #5 on the UK singles chart.
"Don't Leave Me This Way" was covered by Motown artist Thelma Houston Her version, with its more overt disco arrangement, was a massive international hit, topping the soul singles chart and US Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in April 1977. The song peaked at #13 in the UK. The song went to number one on the disco chart, and is considered by many to be not just one of the greatest songs of the disco era but the entire 70's as well.

Houston's version was revived in 1995 in a remix, which reached #19 on the US Billboard Dance Chart and #35 in the UK. This version got Houston ranked #86 on VH1's "100 Greatest One-hit Wonders", as well as the #2 spot on their "100 Greatest Dance Songs" list.
Nine years later, the song was revived by The Communards in an avowedly  Hi- NRG version. This recording topped the UK charts for four weeks in September 1986, becoming the biggest selling record of the year in the process The featured guest vocalist was jazz singer Sarah Jane Morris.. The song only reached #40 on the US Billboard Hot 100 but did top the Billboard Dance chart.

audio link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkakXDeh8Jw