"You Light Up My Life" is both a Grammy Award and an Academy
Award winning ballad written by Joe Brooks and originally
recorded by the late Kasey Cisyk for the soundtrack to the film
of the same name. The song was performed in the film by its
lead, Didi Conn, who lip synched Cisyk's version. Pat Boone's
daughter, Debby Boone, was recruited to record the single,
which became a massive success, topping the Billboard Hot 100
chart for a record-setting ten consecutive weeks. It easily
became the most successful single of the 1970s in the United
States and set a new Hot 100 record for longest reign at No.1.
(Elvis Presley's double-sided "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog", then
recognized as the longest-running No.1 of the Rock Era, spent
11 weeks atop the Billboard Best Sellers chart in 1956, before
the debut of the Hot 100.) The record was matched in 1982 by
Olivia Newton-John's Physical, but never surpassed until a 1991
change in chart methodology allowed songs to achieve longer
reigns at No.1 ("End of the Road" by Boyz II Men set the new
record, 13 weeks). The single, which was certified platinum by
the RIAA, also hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and even
reached #4 on the Country chart. Although written by Brooks as
a love song, the devout Boone interpreted the song as
inspirational and proclaimed that it was instead God who "lit
up her life."
Cisyk's soundtrack recording was released as a single to
bolster sales of the soundtrack after Boone included her
version on her first solo album also entitled
You Light Up My Life. (Although the soundtrack was
certified gold, peaking at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 albums
chart, it never included Boone's version of the song.) Cisyk's
single was credited to "Original Cast", not to Cisyk herself,
and only reached No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100. Brooks also
released an instrumental version of the song from the
soundtrack as a single, but his version failed to chart.
Boone's success resulted in Grammy nominations for Best Pop
Vocal Performance Female and Record of the Year and won her the
1977 Grammy for Best New Artist and the 1977 American Music
Award for Favorite Pop Single. The song earned Brooks the 1977
Song of the Year Grammy (tied with "Love Theme from "A Star Is
Born" (Evergreen)") as well as the Best Original Song awards at
the 1977 Golden Globe and Academy Awards.
The song ranks #7 on
Billboard's All Time Top 100.[1]
Many artists have covered "You Light Up My Life" since 1977.
The following year, Johnny Mathis recorded and named his album
after the song. LeAnn Rimes released her version as a single in
1997 – 20 years after Boone's version was released and on the
same record label (Curb Records). Her version fared modestly by
comparison to the original at radio (No. 34 Pop, No. 48
Country). However, her single was certified gold and was the
title track to her No. 1 Pop and Country album,
You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs.
Among the other diverse artists who have recorded and/or
performed the song are:
The song was also parodied in the Six Feet Under episode The
Rainbow of Her Reasons.