Three Times a Lady

1978 single by Commodores

"Three Times a Lady" is a 1978 song by American soul group Commodores for their album Natural High, written by lead singer Lionel Richie. It was produced by James Anthony Carmichael and Commodores. It was Commodores' first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, topping the chart for two weeks on August 12, 1978, and also reached number one on the soul chart for two weeks. It was the only Motown song to reach the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 that year. The song also spent three weeks at number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song also reached number one on the Canadian RPM Singles Chart for four weeks, and was one of only a few Motown singles to reach the top spot on the UK Singles Chart, staying there for five weeks. It was also successful in Ireland, staying at number one for three consecutive weeks. It was number one in Australia for five weeks, and reached number 2 in New Zealand.

As a student at Tuskegee University, Lionel Richie joined friends to form the band Commodores. The group primarily performed funk and party songs written by band members. Richie had grown up in a household full of varying kinds of music. At a party to celebrate his parents' 37th wedding anniversary, Richie's father toasted his mother, Alberta, saying "She's a great lady, she's a great mother, and she's a great friend." Richie did not believe that a waltz would fit The Commodores' musical style, so he wrote it imagining that it would be sung by Frank Sinatra. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 18, 1978, at number 73. Eight weeks later, it reached number 1, where it remained for two weeks. The original Commodores' version of the song was included as the final track on Lionel Richie's greatest hits compilation album Back To Front, released in 1992.

Nate Harvell recorded a country version in 1978, reaching number 23 on the Billboard country chart and number 24 in Canada. Conway Twitty's version appears on his 1983 album Lost in the Feeling. Twitty's version reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in the late winter of 1984 and number 4 in the Canadian charts. (#81 Year End) AllMusic reviewer Tom Jurek wrote that "Three Times a Lady" and the previous single, "Heartache Tonight" "offer(ed) a solid view of Twitty's amazing crossover potential, and his ability to take well known pop tracks and turn them into solid country smashes long after the countrypolitan days of Chet Atkins and RCA."