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River Deep – Mountain High

"River Deep – Mountain High"
Riverdeep-mountainhigh.jpg
cover art by actor Dennis Hopper
Single by Tina Turner
(Credited to Ike & Tina Turner)
from the album River Deep – Mountain High
B-side "I'll Keep You Happy"
Released May 1966
Format 7" single
Recorded Gold Star Studios, Los Angeles, 1965
Genre Soul, pop
Length 3:40
Label Philles Records
131
Writer(s) Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich
Producer(s) Phil Spector
Tina Turner
(Credited to Ike & Tina Turner) singles chronology
I Can't Believe What You Say (For Seeing What You Do)"
(1964)
"River Deep – Mountain High" (non-US)
(1966)
"A Man Is a Man Is a Man" (non-US)
(1966)
"River Deep, Mountain High"
Deep Purple - River Deep single.jpg
Cover of the 1969 French single
Single by Deep Purple
from the album The Book of Taliesyn
B-side "Listen, Learn, Read On"
Released February 1969
Format 7" single
Recorded October 1968
at De Lane Lea, London
Genre Hard rock, progressive rock
Length 2:35 (single edit)
10:12 (album version)
Label Tetragrammaton (US)
Writer(s) Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich
Producer(s) Derek Lawrence
Deep Purple singles chronology
"Kentucky Woman"
(1968)
"River Deep, Mountain High"
(1969)
"Black Night"
(1970)
"River Deep Mountain High"
Single by Eric Burdon & the Animals
from the album Love Is
B-side "White Houses"
Released 1969
Format 7" single
Recorded October 1968
Genre Hard rock, soul
Length 3:52 (single version)
7:26 (album version)
Label MGM
Writer(s) Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich
Producer(s) Tom Wilson
Eric Burdon & the Animals singles chronology
"Ring of Fire"
(1969)
"River Deep Mountain High"
(1969)
"The House of the Rising Sun"
(1972)
"River Deep – Mountain High"
Single by The Supremes & Four Tops
from the album The Magnificent 7
B-side "Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music"
Released November 5, 1970
Format 7" single
Recorded Hitsville USA (Studio A); May 7, 11-12, 1970
Genre R&B, soul
Length 3:14 (single version)
4:54 (album version)
Label Motown
M 1173
Writer(s) Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich
Producer(s) Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
The Supremes chronology
"Stoned Love"
(1970)
"River Deep – Mountain High"
(1970)
"Nathan Jones"
(1971)
Four Tops singles chronology
"It's All in the Game"
(1970)
"River Deep – Mountain High"
(1970)
"Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)"
(1971)

"River Deep – Mountain High" is a 1966 single performed by Tina Turner and credited to Ike & Tina Turner. Considered by producer Phil Spector to be his best work, the single was successful in Europe, peaking at number 3 in the United Kingdom, and peaking at number 16 in Australia though it flopped on its original release in the United States. Spector claimed to be pleased with the response from the critics and his peers, but he then withdrew from the music industry for two years, beginning his personal decline.

After Eric Burdon and the Animals covered the song in 1968, the original version was re-released a year later, and has since become one of Tina Turner's signature songs, though it charted even lower, "bubbling under" at number 112.

In 1999, "River Deep – Mountain High" was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Written by Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich, "River Deep – Mountain High" was among the first recordings that Ike & Tina Turner did for Phil Spector's Philles Records. Spector was well aware of Ike Turner's controlling attitude in the studio, and therefore he drafted an unusual contract: the River Deep – Mountain High album and single would be credited to "Ike & Tina Turner", but Ike was paid $20,000 to stay away from the studio, and only Tina Turner's vocals would be used on the record.

The track was recorded using Spector's "Wall of Sound" production technique, cost a then-unheard-of $22,000, and required 21 session musicians and 21 background vocalists. Due to Spector's perfectionism in the studio, he made Turner sing the song over and over for several hours until he felt he had the perfect vocal take for the song. Turner recalled, "I must have sung that 500,000 times. I was drenched with sweat. I had to take my shirt off and stand there in my bra to sing."


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