ENDLESS LOVE - DIANA ROSS , LIONEL RICHIE

 

Información obtenida de la página: 

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/diana-ross-and-lionel-richie/endless-love

This song was from the 1981 film of the same name starring Brooke Shields. The film, which was based on a best-selling novel of the same name, was not very successful, but the song received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations and won a Marquee Award in 1982 for Best Original Song.

This ended up being one of the most popular songs of the '80s, but it began with more modest ambitions. Lionel Richie had risen from saxophone player in the Commodores to lead vocalist and primary songwriter in the group. He was still with them when Endless Love director Franco Zeffirelli asked him to write an instrumental theme along the lines of Henry Mancini's theme from the 1971 film Love Story. Richie, who was eager to add "film soundtrack" to his resumé, used a piece of music he had written for the Commodores but was never recorded. But then Zeffirelli decided he wanted lyrics. And that it should be a duet, maybe with Diana Ross. So Richie's assignment went from devising an instrumental theme song to composing and performing on a fully-formed duet with the most popular female vocalist in America. He was up for the challenge.

With lots of experience writing sentimental love songs, Richie penned some lyrics, using hyperbolic lines like "You're every breath that I take," befitting the movie title.

In 1994, Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross recorded this for Vandross' album Songs. It became Luther's biggest hit, going to #2 in the US. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nScV1qu-MZQ )

Ross and Richie performed this song at the Oscars in 1982, where it was nominated for Best Original Song (it lost to "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)"). Ross was used to this focused attention, but it was new to Richie, who was accustomed to sharing the stage with his band. After this performance, which reached a global audience in the hundreds of millions, Richie knew he would have to come into the spotlight as a solo artist.

This went to #1 in the US on August 15, 1981 - a little over three months after it was recorded. It stayed on top for an astonishing nine weeks, and also showed remarkable crossover appeal, topping the R&B chart for seven weeks and the Adult Contemporary chart for three.

COVER: Filippa Giordano Carlos Rivera - Endless Love

COVER: Marc Anthony and Sara Evans and Lionel Richie Endless Love