''Take Me Higher'' is the twenty-first studio album by American singer

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups ...

, released on September 5, 1995, by

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

. Ross' first regular studio release in four years, following '' The Force Behind the Power'' (1991) and the holiday album '' A Very Special Season'' (1994), the album features work from urban producers such as G Syier Hawkins Brown, Narada Michael Walden, Mike Mani,

Louis Biancaniello Louis John Biancaniello is an American songwriter and record producer. Career Biancaniello's skills were developed while working alongside producer Narada Michael Walden with whom he produced hits for Shanice '' I Love Your Smile'', Whitney ...

, Jon-John and the

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

protégés, The Boom Brothers. The album peaked at number 10 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

and entered the top forty in Austria and Scotland as well as on the US

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

. ''Take Me Higher'' yielded several singles, including the UK hits " Take Me Higher", "Gone" and Ross' dance cover of Gloria Gaynor's disco anthem "

I Will Survive "I Will Survive" is a song by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978 as the second single from her sixth album, '' Love Tracks'' (1978). It was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. A top-selling song, it is a popular di ...

" (1978). Photographer Ruven Afanador shot the album cover and the fashion forward video shoot which Ross used for promotional purposes. He also shot the video compilation for the single, "Don't Stop".

Critical reception

In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, editor William Ruhlmann wrote that "combining the work of four separate producers who mostly tried to fit Ross into contemporary dance trends, the album did feature a club bit in the title song, while the ballad "Gone" made the Top 40 in the UK. But Ross herself seemed to have spent more time posing for the many fashion shots in the booklet than singing pedestrian songs." ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...

'' critic Elysa Gardner found that ''Take Me Higher'' was "mired in excess. There are too many collaborators, too much synthetic production and heavy-handed sentiment ..the only palpable vision is a firm eye on the middle of the road."

Chart performance

In the United Kingdom, ''Take Me Higher'' debuted and peaked at number 10 on the

, becoming Ross' first top ten studio album since '' Diana Ross'' (1976). Elsewhere, it entered the top forty in Austria and Scotland, reaching number 40 and number 37, respectively. In the United States, ''Take Me Higher'' underperformed, peaking at 114 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and number 38 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, while selling a little over 100,000 copies.

Singles

Title track and lead single " Take Me Higher" became a hit on the dance charts, reaching number four on the UK Dance Singles, while topping the US Dance Club Songs. Follow-up "Gone" became Ross' fourth top 40 entry in the UK, while "If You're Not Gonna Love Me Right" reached number 67 on the US

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

. "Voice of the Heart" peaked at number 28 on the US

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

, with "

," Ross' cover of the Gloria Gaynor song, reached number 14 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Her version got an extra boost from being played at a key scene in

Frank Oz Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is an American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker. He began his career as a puppeteer, performing the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle in ''The Muppet Show ...

's American comedy film, '' In & Out'' (1997). Ross also performed it during a "Take Me Higher" megamix at her acclaimed Super Bowl XXX Half-Time show as she was whisked away in a helicopter.

Track listing

Notes * signifies an associate producer * signifies an co-producer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Motown albums Diana Ross albums Albums produced by Narada Michael Walden Hip hop soul albums