"Who's Leaving Who" is a song written by Jack White and Mark Spiro, first recorded by Canadian country singer Anne Murray in 1986. It achieved bigger popularity in Europe when it was covered by British Hi-NRG singer Hazell Dean in 1988. David Hasselhoff covered the song on his 1991 album David, produced by Jack White.
Anne Murray version
The song was first recorded by Anne Murray for her Gold-plus 1986 album Something to Talk About. The song was released as the album's second single, following her Canadian and US number one country single, "Now and Forever (You and Me)". The single failed to reach the same level of success, peaking at number 93 on the Canadian singles chart, and failing to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100. Its biggest success was on the adult contemporary charts, peaking at number 15 in Canada and number 26 in the US.
Charts
Hazell Dean version
English singer Hazell Dean recorded a cover version of the song for her 1988 album Always. The song was produced by Stock Aitken & Waterman and was reworked to suit Hazell Dean's music style as a Hi-NRG song. Released on March 21, 1988, the single surpassed the popularity of Murray's version and became Dean's biggest international success, peaking at number four in the UK and becoming her highest-charting single there, tied with her 1984 single "Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)". It was her first top-40 hit in the UK in four years. When released around Europe, it also became a success, and it appeared on the US dance chart.
Release
At the time of the single's release, Stock Aitken Waterman were criticised by some for their songs sounding "samey". Hazell Dean defended the producers in Melody Maker, saying, "Maybe, but any studio sound always will. I'm honestly shocked the way some people react to them, the flak they take. They're just down-to-earth blokes and bloody good musicians making good records which I personally think will last. And Pete Waterman bases the whole thing on Tamia Motown you know, all that family thing. Everyone makes their own tea and so on. I can't believe how they get knocked!"
Critical reception
Tony Reed from Melody Maker wrote, "This time, the Hi-NRG signatures are buried deep in the mix (by Pete Hammond, but "produced" by SAW — Inna Spielberg stylee?) and overlaid with so much candy-floss tinkly bits that one can only assume that the success of Rick Minogue has gone to SAW's wily old heads." Johnny Dee from Record Mirror said, "Yes this record goes 'boom, chug-a-chug, chug, boom, chug-a-chug, chug." The magazine's James Hamilton wrote in his dance column, "Stock Aitken Waterman-produced thuddingly bounding 120bpm galloper with an attractive Eurobeat-ish lilt". A review in Pan-European magazine Music & Media stated about the song: "The beat is what used to be called Eurodisco; a stomping, electro dance groove with a very Abba-like song." Retrospectively, in 2021, British magazine Classic Pop ranked the song number 14 in their list of 'Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs', adding: "When PWL added their Hi-NRG motifs to Canadian country artist Anne Murray's version of "Who's Leaving Who" from two years earlier, the song took on ABBA-esque qualities that worked like a charm... When this put her into the Top 40, eventually climbing into the Top 5, things were looking up."