"It Takes Two" is a hit single recorded in late 1965 by American singer-songwriter
Marvin Gaye and American soul singer
Kim Weston for
Motown's Tamla label.
Background
Produced by Weston's then-husband, longtime Gaye collaborator
William "Mickey" Stevenson, and co-written by Stevenson and
Sylvia Moy, "It Takes Two" centered on a romantic lyric that depicted many things in life (dreams, love, wishes, etc.) being better with two people instead of one. The single became Gaye's most successful duet single to date, later outperformed by Gaye's duets with
Tammi Terrell.[citation needed]
Cash Box said the single is a "rhythmic, infectious romancer that superbly matches the two fine voices."[2]
Gaye and Weston's duet peaked at
No. 14 on the Billboard Pop charts and No. 4 on Billboard′s Soul Singles chart in January 1967. "It Takes Two" was also Gaye's first major hit in the UK, where it peaked at No. 16 on the British singles charts in the spring of that same year.[3][4]
British singer
Rod Stewart and American singer
Tina Turner released a cover of "It Takes Two" in November 1990 by
Warner Bros., which was also featured in a television advertising campaign for
Pepsi. It was the lead single from Stewart's sixteenth album, Vagabond Heart (1991), produced by
Bernard Edwards. The duet was a European hit, peaking at No. 1 in Denmark. It also reached No. 5 in the UK and was a Top 10 single in several European countries. The song later appeared on both artists' greatest hits albums: Turner's Simply the Best (1991), and Stewart's The Very Best of Rod Stewart (2001).
In 1967
Otis Redding and
Carla Thomas released a cover version on their album of duets titled "
King & Queen" on the Stax label, which was heavily influenced by
Marvin Gaye's duets and was Otis Redding's final studio album before his death in December that same year.