"Does He Love You" was written in 1982 by Billy Stritch and Sandy Knox. He recorded it with a trio in which he performed at the time, because he wanted a song that could be sung by the other two members of the trio, both of whom were women. It had been pitched to
Barbara Mandrell and
Liza Minnelli, but McEntire ended up recording it. She had wanted to include
Linda Davis, then a vocalist in her road band, as a duet partner. McEntire's then-husband and manager,
Narvel Blackstock, told her that
MCA Records "would rather [she] record this with somebody more established", such as
Wynonna Judd or
Trisha Yearwood, both of whom were on the same label at the time. McEntire called
Tony Brown, then working as a
record producer for both her and Judd. Brown told her that Judd might record the song if McEntire asked her personally, but added that Judd did not want to record songs about "marital problems". McEntire submitted a
demo to Judd and, after not hearing back from her, recorded the song with Davis in June 1993. The single went on to win the
Grammy award for Best Country Vocal Collaboration, a
Country Music Association Award for Vocal Event of the Year, and a
TNN/Music City News award for Best Vocal Collaboration. In 1996, Minnelli released the song as a duet with
Donna Summer, from Minnelli's album, "
Gently". In 1997, it appeared on
Patti LaBelle's album,
Flame.
Larry Flick from
Billboard magazine wrote, "LaBelle effectively reinvents the
Reba McEntire and
Linda Davis hit as a
R&B ballad." The track was the most recent number one female duet on a
Billboard country music chart based on airplay for over 28 years until "
Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)" by
Elle King and
Miranda Lambert topped the chart in April 2022. It was Davis's only number one on the country charts. ==Content==