"Mama Can't Buy You Love" is a hit single for British singer/songwriter Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

 off the EP The Thom Bell Sessions

The Thom Bell Sessions

The Thom Bell Sessions is an EP recorded by Elton John in the second half of 1977 but was not released by MCA Records until June 1979. The project was a departure for Elton at the time. Up until that time he had worked almost exclusively with lyricist Bernie Taupin and record producer Gus Dudgeon...

. The song was written by LeRoy Bell

LeRoy Bell

LeRoy Bell, at times Leroy Bell is an American singer and songwriter. He and his friend Casey James played in Special Blend, and then went on to form their own duo Bell and James, also composing songs that were hits for other artists most notably two charting hit singles for Elton John. Later Bell...

 and Casey James (of Bell & James fame), and it became John's first U.S. top-ten hit in almost three years when it peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100

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...

 in August 1979.. "Mama Can't Buy You Love" also spent one week at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart.In the U.S. it was certified Gold on 8/17/1979 by the R.I.A.A.