“Slow Hand” is a ballad that John Bettis and Michael Clark wrote. The Pointer Sisters is the voice behind its recording. First released in the spring of 1981, it was the advance single for Black & White.
Everyone has that song that makes their blood rush, their face flush, and their pulse quicken. It is the jam you always have queued up when there is even the slightest chance of an overnight guest. It is no secret that the song talks about how she wants to be treated in those intimate encounters, “Slow Hand”.
Conway Twitty showed that this song has a great deal of country appeal when he recorded it in 1982.
The Background of the Song
After Conway had left MCA Records after a 17-year association, 1965-1982, he moved to Warner/Elektra. An impressive streak of major Top-10 hits represented Conway Twitty’s Warner Brothers era during a four-year run, 1982-1986.
Conway debuted for Elektra Records in the spring of 1982 with the release of the somber heartbreak ballad “The Clown”. His debut album entitled Southern Comfort included “The Clown” in the said label. The album featured the standard 10 songs with a mixture of material the fans and country music listeners came to expect from Conway. After “The Clown” hit the top, the second single became a huge hit in the summer of 1982, “Slow Hand”. Although the song has a vibe of Country in it, it became a huge pop/R&B hit for The Pointer Sisters in 1981. Conway got the idea of recording the song from a man’s point of view. His version topped the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart for two weeks that June and was his last multi-week number-one song.
“Slow Hand” was not the first song recorded by the sisters to have a country feel.
In 1974, the group wrote and recorded the breakthrough track “Fairytale”.
Seven years later, country singer Del Reeves made his own version that peaked at #53 on the Hot Country Singles chart.
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conway twitty, slow hand