It's My Turn

Diana Ross and “It’s My Turn”: From Film Soundtrack to Top-Ten Pop Standard

Diana Ross recorded “It’s My Turn” as the title track to the 1980 Columbia Pictures romantic drama of the same name, starring Jill Clayburgh and Michael Douglas. The song was written by Carole Bayer Sager and Michael Masser, a songwriting partnership that had already produced some of the most successful pop ballads of the 1970s. Masser, in particular, had a long and fruitful creative relationship with Diana Ross, having co-written and produced “Touch Me in the Morning” (1973) and “Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)” (1975), both of which reached number one on the Hot 100. “It’s My Turn” continued and deepened that collaboration.

The song was produced by Michael Masser and released on Motown Records, Ross’s longtime label home, as part of the soundtrack album for the film. The production style reflected the sophisticated adult contemporary pop that Masser had mastered: lush orchestral arrangements built around piano, strings, and a subtle rhythmic underpinning that never distracted from the vocal performance. Ross’s voice, always precise and controlled rather than raw or rough, suited the material’s reflective character perfectly.

The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 25, 1980, entering at number 86. From there it climbed with notable consistency over the following months, reaching its peak position of number 9 during the week of January 24, 1981. The track spent a total of twenty-one weeks on the chart, an extended run that reflected strong adult contemporary radio support as well as the film’s promotional reach. On the Adult Contemporary chart, “It’s My Turn” performed even more impressively, reaching the top five and remaining a fixture of that format through the winter of 1980-1981.

The film It’s My Turn was directed by Claudia Weill and received mixed critical reviews, but its soundtrack benefited from the strength of Ross’s performance and the songwriters’ professional craftsmanship. The title track received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song in 1981, cementing its status as one of the more distinguished soundtrack songs of that era. The nomination reflected the esteem in which the Hollywood filmmaking community held the Masser-Sager-Ross combination.

Ross had departed from Motown temporarily in 1981 to sign with RCA, but “It’s My Turn” arrived just before that transition, representing one of her final high-profile releases on the label where she had spent her entire career as both a member of The Supremes and as a solo artist. The song thus occupied an emotionally charged position in her discography, arriving at a moment of personal and professional transition that gave the lyrical content additional resonance.

Carole Bayer Sager’s lyrical sensibility was particularly well-suited to the material. Sager had built a career writing songs that captured moments of personal clarity and self-determination, often from a female perspective that balanced vulnerability with resolve. Her work on “It’s My Turn” aligned with the film’s thematic concerns around autonomy and self-discovery, and the song worked as a standalone piece independent of its narrative context.

The song has maintained a durable presence in adult contemporary playlists and Ross’s concert repertoire for decades. Its Academy Award nomination and chart success ensured it remained associated with a specific moment of cultural currency for women’s narratives in mainstream film and pop music. The combination of a gifted composer-producer in Masser, a gifted lyricist in Sager, and one of the most polished vocalists in American popular music in Diana Ross produced a record whose craft has aged gracefully, speaking across decades to listeners who respond to the combination of orchestral warmth, melodic clarity, and emotional directness that Masser consistently achieved in his best work.