I'm Coming Out
Encyclopedia
"I'm Coming Out" is a hit single
released by Motown singer Diana Ross
in 1980, written and produced by Chic
members Bernard Edwards
and Nile Rodgers
for her album diana
(1980).
founders Nile Rodgers
and Bernard Edwards
to create material for a new album, following the success of her final Ashford & Simpson
-composed and produced LP, The Boss after taking her daughters to see the band in concert. Rodgers got the idea for "I'm Coming Out" after noticing three different drag queen
s dressed as Diana Ross at a New York club called the GG Barnum Room. The lyrics hold an additional meaning to Ross, as she was leaving Motown Records and "coming out" from under the thumb of Berry Gordy.
chart. It is also notable for being the first song usually performed at Ross' performances and concerts since 1980.
, to contract the horns
for the album in return for a commitment by Rodgers to co-produce Monardo's then-upcoming album of music from The Empire Strikes Back. Monardo, a former first-call session player who had a string of hits in the late 1970s with disco
versions of film music, also played trombone
on the album and is featured in a solo towards the end of "I'm Coming Out":
Trombone solos have been rare on top forty songs in the post-big band
era and especially so since the 1960s. Notable exceptions include brief solos by James Pankow
on a handful of early Chicago
hits and Clifford Adams' brief solo on Kool & the Gang
's 1983 hit "Joanna". The pitch in Monardo's solo is unusually indistinct for an instrumentalist of his stature, which he later explained was due to problems in the final mixing of the track:
The dispute with Ross lead to none of musicians being credited on the album cover and also may have had a part in Rodgers backing out of his commitment to Monardo's Meco Plays Music from The Empire Strikes Back album. However, Rodgers and Ross later mended their professional relationship and subsequent digital releases of the album credit Monardo and the other musicians. A 2003 two-disk release of the album included as a bonus track the Rodgers/Edwards mix originally rejected by Ross.
German 12" single
Dutch 7" and 12" single
Swedish 7" single
as the years passed, most notably by Stevie J
, who used a sample on the late rapper The Notorious B.I.G.
's 1997 song "Mo Money Mo Problems
". There's also been a cover
by Marcia Hines
. It was featured as a cover for the video game Karaoke Revolution
as well.
sampled "I'm Coming Out" for her single "Mein Coming Out", using the term "coming out" in the context of coming out of the closet, or revealing one's homosexuality.
singer Amerie
covered the song for the soundtrack to Jennifer Lopez
's film, Maid in Manhattan
. It was released as a single in Australia and the United Kingdom only, and not in the United States. The final single version to be released was the Loren Dawson Radio Mix. The original single version (which is similar to the original) can be found on both CD singles and the original motion picture soundtrack to Maid in Manhattan. Ross' version can be found on the film's soundtrack album as well.
Producers made the decision to release the Loren Dawson Radio Mix as the final released version instead of the single version. This decision was made to give the song a more urban contemporary
vibe. The single was only released as a promotional single for the film in the UK and it was decided no commercial release would be given. The Trackmasters
remix of "Talkin' to Me
" was released as a B-side
.
Australian promo CD single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
released by Motown singer Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
in 1980, written and produced by Chic
Chic (band)
Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
members Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards born in Greenville, North Carolina, was a bass player and record producer, both as a member of the Funk/Disco band Chic and on his own. He died of pneumonia while touring in Japan.-History:...
and Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
for her album diana
Diana (album)
diana is a 1980 album by American R&B and soul singer Diana Ross, released by Motown. Her 11th studio album, it was, and still is, the biggest-selling studio collection of Ross' career.-Conception:...
(1980).
Background
In 1979, Ross commissioned ChicChic (band)
Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
founders Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
and Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards born in Greenville, North Carolina, was a bass player and record producer, both as a member of the Funk/Disco band Chic and on his own. He died of pneumonia while touring in Japan.-History:...
to create material for a new album, following the success of her final Ashford & Simpson
Ashford & Simpson
Nickolas Ashford , and Valerie Simpson , were a husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists....
-composed and produced LP, The Boss after taking her daughters to see the band in concert. Rodgers got the idea for "I'm Coming Out" after noticing three different drag queen
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
s dressed as Diana Ross at a New York club called the GG Barnum Room. The lyrics hold an additional meaning to Ross, as she was leaving Motown Records and "coming out" from under the thumb of Berry Gordy.
Chart success
The song was a hit, peaking at number five on the U.S. Pop SinglesBillboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart. It is also notable for being the first song usually performed at Ross' performances and concerts since 1980.
Trombone solo
Rodgers convinced his neighbor, producer Meco MonardoMeco
Meco is an American record producer and musician, as well as the name of a band or production team based around him...
, to contract the horns
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
for the album in return for a commitment by Rodgers to co-produce Monardo's then-upcoming album of music from The Empire Strikes Back. Monardo, a former first-call session player who had a string of hits in the late 1970s with disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
versions of film music, also played trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
on the album and is featured in a solo towards the end of "I'm Coming Out":
Trombone solos have been rare on top forty songs in the post-big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
era and especially so since the 1960s. Notable exceptions include brief solos by James Pankow
James Pankow
James Carter "Jimmy" Pankow is an American trombone player, songwriter and brass instrument arranger best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago.-Early life:...
on a handful of early Chicago
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...
hits and Clifford Adams' brief solo on Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...
's 1983 hit "Joanna". The pitch in Monardo's solo is unusually indistinct for an instrumentalist of his stature, which he later explained was due to problems in the final mixing of the track:
The dispute with Ross lead to none of musicians being credited on the album cover and also may have had a part in Rodgers backing out of his commitment to Monardo's Meco Plays Music from The Empire Strikes Back album. However, Rodgers and Ross later mended their professional relationship and subsequent digital releases of the album credit Monardo and the other musicians. A 2003 two-disk release of the album included as a bonus track the Rodgers/Edwards mix originally rejected by Ross.
Music video
Diana Ross performing in the music video to the song with some studio musicians live in concert.Track listings
U.S., UK, French, and German 7" singleGerman 12" single
- Side A:
- "I'm Coming Out"
- Side B:
- "Give Up"
Dutch 7" and 12" single
- Side A:
- "I'm Coming Out"
- Side B:
- "Never Say I Don't Love You"
Swedish 7" single
- Side A:
- "I'm Coming Out"
- Side B:
- "My Old Piano"
Charts
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
13 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop Singles Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
5 |
| U.S. Billboard Black Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
6 |
| U.S. Billboard Club Play Singles | 1 |
Chart procession and succession
Samples and covers
The song has been sampledSampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
as the years passed, most notably by Stevie J
Stevie J
--MSGOLDBERG1 23:09, 23 November 2011 Stevie J. is an American musician, singer, record producer and songwriter. This upstate New Yorker is the leader of the Bad Boy Entertainment Hitmen roster of in-house producers and writers during the 90s and thus worked often with the label's owner Sean...
, who used a sample on the late rapper The Notorious B.I.G.
The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace , best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls , Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White .Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough...
's 1997 song "Mo Money Mo Problems
Mo Money Mo Problems
"Mo Money Mo Problems" is a single by Notorious B.I.G., the second single from his album Life After Death. Released posthumously, the single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1997, replacing "I'll Be Missing You" from the chart, Puff Daddy's song about Notorious B.I.G's death...
". There's also been a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by Marcia Hines
Marcia Hines
Marcia Elaine Hines, AM is a vocalist, actress and TV personality who achieved success in her adopted homeland of Australia. Hines made her debut, at the age of sixteen, in the Australian version of the stage musical Hair and followed with the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar...
. It was featured as a cover for the video game Karaoke Revolution
Karaoke Revolution
Karaoke Revolution and its many sequels are video games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360, developed by Harmonix Music Systems and Blitz Games and published by Konami in its Bemani line of music games. The Original Concept for Karaoke Revolution was...
as well.
Hella von Sinnen version: "Mein Coming Out"
In 1997, German comedian Hella von SinnenHella von Sinnen
Hella Kemper known by her stage name Hella von Sinnen is a German entertainer. She had several TV shows on German private channels...
sampled "I'm Coming Out" for her single "Mein Coming Out", using the term "coming out" in the context of coming out of the closet, or revealing one's homosexuality.
Amerie version
In 2003, American R&BContemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
singer Amerie
Amerie
Amerie Mi Marie Rogers , known professionally as Amerie or Ameriie, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily co-written and produced by Rich Harrison, and was well-received in the urban market...
covered the song for the soundtrack to Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
's film, Maid in Manhattan
Maid in Manhattan
Maid in Manhattan is a 2002 romantic comedy film directed by Wayne Wang about a hotel maid and a high profile politician who fall in love starring Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, and Natasha Richardson. It is based on a story by John Hughes who is credited using a pseudonym. The original music score...
. It was released as a single in Australia and the United Kingdom only, and not in the United States. The final single version to be released was the Loren Dawson Radio Mix. The original single version (which is similar to the original) can be found on both CD singles and the original motion picture soundtrack to Maid in Manhattan. Ross' version can be found on the film's soundtrack album as well.
Producers made the decision to release the Loren Dawson Radio Mix as the final released version instead of the single version. This decision was made to give the song a more urban contemporary
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
vibe. The single was only released as a promotional single for the film in the UK and it was decided no commercial release would be given. The Trackmasters
Trackmasters
The Trackmasters are the successful production duo of Poke and Tone , sometimes credited as Poke & Tone, best known for their commercial hit records in the late 90s and early 2000s. Throughout their career they have worked with various hip-hop and R&B artists including R...
remix of "Talkin' to Me
Talkin' To Me
"Talkin' to Me" is a song by American R&B singer Amerie from her debut album, All I Have . Written and produced by Rich Harrison, it was released in 2003 as the album's second and final single solely in the United States, thus not being able to make the charts elsewhere...
" was released as a B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
.
Track listings
International CD single- "I'm Coming Out" (Loren Dawson Radio Mix) – 3:49
- "Talkin' to MeTalkin' To Me"Talkin' to Me" is a song by American R&B singer Amerie from her debut album, All I Have . Written and produced by Rich Harrison, it was released in 2003 as the album's second and final single solely in the United States, thus not being able to make the charts elsewhere...
" (Album Version) – 4:00 - "Talkin' to Me" (Trackmasters Remix featuring Foxy Brown) – 3:38
- "I'm Coming Out" (Mark RonsonMark RonsonMark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....
Sunshine Remix) (No Loop) – 3:09 - "I'm Coming Out" (Video)
Australian promo CD single
- "I'm Coming Out" (Remix)
Charts
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
66 |
| Australian Urban Singles Chart | 23 |
| Dutch Single Top 100 | 69 |
| Romanian Top 100 Romanian Top 100 The Romanian Top 100 is the national airplay-based singles chart of Romania. It is weekly and it started running in 1996. It is recognized as an official chart by the European division of Billboard, Music & Media.... |
100 |