You Keep Me Hangin' On - Kim Wilde Version

Kim Wilde Version

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" was covered in an updated version by British singer Kim Wilde in 1986. It was released as the second single from Wilde's Another Step album (although "You Keep Me Hangin' On" was the LP's first worldwide single, as the first single had been released only in selected countries).

Wilde's version was a total re-working of the original, completely transforming the Supremes' Motown Sound into a 1980s power pop/hi-NRG song. She and her brother, producer Ricki Wilde, had not heard "You Keep Me Hangin' On" for several years when they decided to record it. The song was not a track they knew well, so they treated it as a new song, even slightly changing the original lyrics. It became the biggest hit of Wilde's career, reaching #2 in her home country as well as hitting the top spot in Europe and Australia. It also became Wilde's second and last top 40 hit in the US following "Kids in America" and is also, to date, her most successful song in that country, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in June 1987.

Incidentally, since Wilde's recording was popular during the evolution of sample-based hip hop, a short drum break in her version has become one of the most sampled pieces of audio ever. In 2006, she performed a new version of the song with the German singer Nena for her Never Say Never album.

In 1988, Wilde's version was covered as a duet by Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes for their album The Chipmunks and The Chipettes: Born to Rock.