"River Deep – Mountain High" | ||||
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cover art by actor Dennis Hopper
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Single by Tina Turner (Credited to Ike & Tina Turner) |
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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 |
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Writer(s) | Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich | |||
Producer(s) | Phil Spector | |||
Tina Turner (Credited to Ike & Tina Turner) singles chronology |
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"River Deep, Mountain High" | ||||
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Cover of the 1969 French single
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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 |
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Genre | Hard rock, progressive rock | |||
Length |
2:35 (single edit) 10:12 (album version) |
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Label | Tetragrammaton (US) | |||
Producer(s) | Derek Lawrence | |||
Deep Purple singles chronology | ||||
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"River Deep Mountain High" | ||||
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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) |
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Label | MGM | |||
Producer(s) | Tom Wilson | |||
Eric Burdon & the Animals singles chronology | ||||
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"River Deep – Mountain High" | |||||||||||
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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) |
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Label |
Motown M 1173 |
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Producer(s) | Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson | ||||||||||
The Supremes chronology | |||||||||||
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"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, it 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."