First charting as a hit for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, an act on Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International label in 1975, "Don't Leave Me This Way" was later a hit single for both Thelma Houston and again for The Communards.
The Blue Notes' original version of the song, featuring Teddy Pendergrass' lead vocal, was included as an album track on the group's successful Wake Up Everybody LP. Though not issued as a single in the United States, the Blue Notes' recording reached #3 on the Billboard Disco charts and later reached #5 on the UK singles chart. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was covered by Motown artist Thelma Houston in 1977. Her version, with its more overt disco arrangement, was a massive international hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a single week in April 1977. The song peaked at #13 in the UK. The song is considered by many to be not only one of the Greatest Disco songs of all time but one of the Greatest Songs of the entire 1970's as well.
Nine years later, the song was revived by The Communards in an avowedly Hi-NRG version. This recording topped the UK charts for four weeks in September 1986, becoming the biggest selling record of the year in the process. The featured guest vocalist was jazz singer Sarah Jane Morris. The song only reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 but did top the Billboard Dance chart.
Houston's version was revived in 1995 in a remix, which reached #19 on the Billboard Dance Chart and #35 in the UK.
The song has been recorded by several other artists including Sheena Easton, José Galisteo, Andy Abraham, and The Temptations, amongst others.
The Thelma Houston cover of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was ranked #87 on VH1's "100 Greatest One-hit Wonders".