<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> file </Li> <Li> help </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> file </Li> <Li> help </Li> </Ul> <P> "Don't Leave Me This Way" is a song written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert . First charting as a hit for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, an act on Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International label in 1975, "Don't Leave Me This Way" was later a huge disco hit for Motown artist Thelma Houston in 1977 . The song was also a major hit for British group the Communards in 1986 . </P> <P> The Blue Notes' original version of the song, featuring Teddy Pendergrass's lead vocal, was included as an album track on the group's successful album Wake Up Everybody released in November 1975 . Though not issued as a single in the United States at the time, the Blue Notes' recording reached number 3 on the US Billboard Disco Chart in the wake of Thelma Houston's version . The song proved to be the group's biggest hit in the UK, number 5 on the UK singles chart, when released there as a single in 1977 . It became the title track of a budget LP issued on the CBS Embassy label in the UK in 1978 . The track was finally issued as a 12 - inch single in the US in 1979, coupled with "Bad Luck". </P>

Who sang don't leave me this way in 1986