Songoftheday 2/10/14 - Since you've been away I've been down and lonely, since you've been away I've been thinking of you...

Diana Ross - "Missing You"
from the album Swept Away (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's Song of the Day is by the "Supreme" diva Diana Ross, whose 1984 album Swept Away brought her back into the pop top-20 with the Daryl Hall-produced title track as well as the duet with Julio Iglesias "All Of You". For the third single, Lionel Richie wrote a touching tribute to Motown legend and previous Ross collaborator Marvin Gaye, whose death in 1984 was a shock to the music world, based on Diana's recollections of the passed singer. For the video, footage of peers Florence Ballard of the Supremes and Paul Williams from the Temptations were added...

"Missing You" reached the top ten on the American pop chart in April in 1985, while going to #1 on the R&B chart for three weeks (conceding to the Commodores' Gaye tribute "Nightshift"). It also climbed to #4 on the adult-contemporary (or easy-listening) radio list in Billboard. Internationally, it surprisingly didn't do as well, stopping at #29 in Canada, and stalling at #76 over in Britain.

The record would mark Diana's most recent appearance in the top-40 on the pop chart in the States. Her next album, Eaten Alive, failed to produce a top-40 pop hit, even with Michael Jackson and the Bee Gees contributing, though it does have her so-far last appearance in the Hot 100 with "Chain Reaction", which made the chart twice, and brought her back to the top of the British singles chart. Concentrating on the R&B market by the end of the decade, Ross embraced the burgeoning new jack swing movement with "Workin' Overtime", which went to #3 on the soul chart in 1989. Two years later, she returned to the R&B top-5 with "No Matter What You Do" with Al B Sure!, but that would be her last, and the followup single "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" would be Diana's so-far final top-40 soul hit at #37. She would also appear from time to time on the dance chart, both with remakes of old material, as well as some new songs, culminating in 1995's "Take Me Higher", which topped the dance club play chart even though it stopped at #77 on the R&B list (she would end up performing that the 1996 Super Bowl). During the 90s, her fortunes were better across the Atlantic, scoring 15 top-40 hits in the UK in the decade. The last year of the millenium would see her last ink on the R&B (#77) and dance (#2) charts with "Until We Meet Again". In 2005, she would reprise her "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" as a guest on Irish boy-band Westlife's remake of the song and reaching #2 on the British chart. Most recently, Diana duetted with Rod Stewart on "I've Got A Crush on You", which went to #19 on the adult contemporary radio chart in 2006. She still tours, as recently as last year.

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Here's Diana and fellow Motown vet Smokey Robinson live in Vegas in 1985...

And again solo live in 1989...

In 1997 rapper Master P sampled the song for the album track "Gangstas Need Love"...

In the same year the late Notorious B.I.G. also used the song for "Miss U" with 112...

Rapper Webbie had a minor R&B hit in 2008 with "Missing You" featuring LeToya Luckett from Destiny's Child that also samples the chorus.

Atlanta hip-hop duo Mullage went to #35 on the R&B chart with "Trick'n", which interpolates the record...

Lastly, I'll close this out with the late Whitney Houston performing the song in concert in 1997..



Up tomorrow: Jazz guitar king recruits the Thin White Duke for some foreign service.