"On My Own" was a hit duet by singers Patti LaBelle and
Michael McDonald when it was released as a single in 1986. It
was released from LaBelle's first platinum album,
Winner in Youand was written and produced by Burt
Bacharach and his former wife Carole Bayer Sager. The song was
based on a relationship that had reached its end with both
parties going their separate ways in a melancholy state with
the occasional option of coming back together again one
day.
It was often stated the two performers were in separate
cities when they recorded their individual parts which were
then "married" during mastering. This was reflected in the
music video produced to promote the song, which depicted
LaBelle and McDonald performing the song simultaneously on
different coasts. The singers were shown on separate sides of a
split screen, each singing the song while walking through
apartments which had identical layouts but different decor and
furniture. The views from their respective porches, where they
finished the song, made clear their separation by the
continent.
The song became the biggest single ever for both singers,
both of whom were members of respective funk/R&B groups in
the 1970s: LaBelle and The Doobie Brothers - as it hit number
one on the
Billboard magazinepop, for 3 weeks, the R&B and
Adult Contemporary charts, as well as number two in the UK
singles chart, going gold - (it was the 22nd best-selling
single of 1986 in the UK). The song was initially not intended
to be a duet at all, but LaBelle decided to invite McDonald to
help her turn the song into a duet, as she stated:
"The song was sent to me and I did a version of it but
somehow it just didn't quite work. We were going over things
I'd done and we talked about turning it into a duet. Someone
asked, 'If you could do it with anyone, who would you sing it
with,' and Michael was my first choice..."
In 1995, country music sinnger Reba McEntire covered the
song on her 1995 album
Starting Over. Her version, featuring guest vocals from
Martina McBride, Linda Davis, and Trisha Yearwood peaked at #20
on Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, although only
McEntire received chart credit for it. Its music video was
directed by Dominic Orlando and was filmed on the Chaplin
Stage.