"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" is a 1979 disco song performed by American R&B duo McFadden & Whitehead, from their debut album McFadden & Whitehead (1979). They wrote and produced the song along with keyboard player Jerry Cohen.

Background

"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" is about succeeding despite having faced previous disadvantages ("so many things that held us down"). It was widely interpreted to be about the experience of the African American community, and after attaining popularity, became referred to as "the new black national anthem" (the original being the 1900 song "Lift Every Voice and Sing"). Kelefa Sanneh noted the song was, "an exuberant number often interpreted as an expression of Black pride", but also that the authors of the song were in a dispute over royalties with their record label Philadelphia International. Whitehead said, "If anything, the song was a declaration of our independence from Gamble."

Production

Despite being seen as social commentary, in an interview conducted by Philadelphia video producer Bob Lott, Whitehead and McFadden revealed that the song was actually about their frustration with Philadelphia International owners Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who for many years preferred that they remain as house songwriters and not performers. Gamble has confirmed that upon first hearing "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", he tried unsuccessfully to convince McFadden and Whitehead to give the song to the O'Jays, as he felt it was better to write and produce for the prominent recording artists of the day than to try to compete with them as on-stage performers. This song features a female chorus in the repeated refrain. Electronic beeping feedback sounds are heard towards the ending of the longer version of the song.

Chart performance

Released as the lead single from the album, the song spent a week at number one on the R&B singles chart. It also proved to be a successful crossover hit, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single also made it to number 10 on the disco charts, and reached number 5 in the UK. It eventually went double Platinum for selling 2 million copies.

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other notable versions

In 1995, Luther Vandross released his version of the song which charted in New Zealand at number 50. His version of the song was also performed as a duet with British girl group, the Spice Girls for their An Audience With... special on the UK's ITV1 in 1997, and later appeared as a B-Side to their single Stop.

Samples

The bassline of the track was used in Ma quale idea by Italian artist Pino D'Angiò.