"Woman in Love" is a popular 1980 song performed by Barbra
Streisand and taken from her album,
Guilty. The song was written by Barry, Maurice and Robin
Gibb of The Bee Gees.
After the success enjoyed by the Bee Gees in the late 1970s,
the band was asked to participate in musical endeavors for
other artists, and Streisand asked Barry Gibb to write an album
for her. This album ultimately became
Guilty; "Woman in Love", as the lead single, became one
of the most successful songs of Streisand's music career. It
spent a total of three weeks at the #1 position on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart, Streisand's fifth (and last, so far)
#1 on this chart. The others were: "The Way We Were" (1974);
"Evergreen (Love Theme from
A Star Is Born, 1977); "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"
(duet with Neil Diamond, 1978); and "No More Tears (Enough is
Enough)" (duet with Donna Summer, 1979). It also spent five
weeks atop the adult contemporary chart, her sixth #1 from that
tally. Outside of the United States, the song also proved very
popular, reaching #1 in many countries, including the United
Kingdom.
About midway through the song, Streisand holds a note for
about 12 seconds while singing the line:
I stumble and fall / But I give you it all(the word
"all" is the note held for this duration of time). During the
chart run of "Woman In Love", Casey Kasem claimed in an edition
of the radio program
American Top 40that this was the longest unaltered note
held by a soloist in a #1 song., though would be later
surpassed by Whitney Houston's vocals on her smash 14-weeks #1
single "I Will Always Love You".
Woman in Love was also covered by Dana International in
1999.
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On February 13, 2006 Liz McClarnon, from Atomic Kitten,
released a cover of "Woman in Love" as her first solo single.
The track was produced by Robin Gibb who co-authored the song.
McClarnon's version peaked at #5 in the UK Top 40.
Woman in Love was also covered by CoCo Lee in 1995.
The Australian group, Young Divas, also covered this song on
their debut album in 2006.
British band The Bluetones also covered this song on their
B-side of 2002 single "After Hours". It was also included on
the band's 2006 compilation A Rough Outline: The Singles &
B-Sides 95 - 03.
The famous Greek diva Anna Vissi recorded a Greek version of
the song for her album "Ναι" ("Yes") in 1980.
Legendary French singer Mireille Mathieu recorded a French
Version ("Une Femme Amoureuse") of the song in 1981.
German songstress Gitte Hænning recorded a German version
titled (Die Frau, die dich liebt).
In 2006, the Italian singer Filippa Giordano released in
Mexico her album "Primadonna", including 2 Spanish tracks, one
of them a cover of "Woman in Love" called "Me he enamorado de
ti". The song was used in Mexico for the opening of the Mexican
telenovela "Cuando Seas Mia".
A Polish singer of Greek descent Eleni Tzoka recorded a
Polish cover of the song titled "Zrobię ten błąd" (I'll Make
that Mistake). The lyrical idea is completely different from
the original version.
Romanian singer Luminita Soare recorded a cover version in
2007.
Hong Kong singer Sammi Cheng covered
Woman in Lovein her 1997 tour
Star Show.