"Endless Love" is a song originally recorded as a duet
between soul singers Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, who wrote
the song. In this ballad, the singers declare their "endless
love" for one another. It was covered by soul singer Luther
Vandross with pop/R&B singer Mariah Carey, by country music
singer Kenny Rogers, and also by the cast of Glee.
Ross and Richie recorded the song for Motown, and it was
used as the theme for the film
Endless Lovestarring Brooke Shields. Produced by Richie
and arranged by Gene Page, it was released as a single from the
film's soundtrack in 1981. While the film
Endless Lovewas a failure, the song became the second
biggest-selling single of the year (first was "Physical" by
Olivia Newton-John) in the U.S. and landed at number 1 on
Billboard's Hot 100, where it stayed for nine weeks from
August 9 to October 10, 1981. It also topped the Billboard
R&B chart and the Adult Contemporary chart, and landed at
number 7 in the UK.
The soulful composition became the biggest-selling single of
Ross' career, while it was one of several hits for Richie as
the 1980s progressed. Ross recorded a solo version of the song
for her first RCA Records album,
Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, but the famous version was
her last hit on Motown. The song was nominated for an Academy
Award for Best Original Song for Richie, and was the second
song with which Ross was involved that was nominated for an
Oscar. It also won a 1982 American Music Award for Favorite
Pop/Rock Single.
The song was included in Adam Sandler's movie
Happy Gilmorewhen Happy and his girlfriend Virginia are
ice skating, and the song begins to play. Virginia says to
Happy "I thought we were just going to be friends." To which he
responds, "Friends listen to Endless Love in the dark."
The song was included as well in the third season of
Friends, in which Phoebe walks into Chandler and Joey´s
flat, just to find Chandler singing the song and holding Lionel
Ritchie's first album, even though the song is included in his
fourth album,
Back to Frontand also in a special 1981 single.
On an episode of
The Steve Harvey Show, Steve and Regina perform the song
at a janitor's urging (who thought they were Ross and Richie);
at the end of the song, the janitor quips "no wonder you guys
haven't had a hit in a while."
The song was also one of the most popular wedding dedication
songs in the 1980s.
Walter Afanasieff produced Luther Vandross and Mariah
Carey's cover of the song for Vandross' Epic Records-released
album
Songs, and it is known for being Carey's first
"high-profile" duet (an earlier duet, "I'll Be There," was with
the then-unknown background singer Trey Lorenz). At the 1995
Grammy Awards, the song was nominated in the new category of
Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, losing to "Funny How Time
Slips Away" by Al Green and Lyle Lovett. Columbia Records later
included the song on Carey's compilation album
Greatest Hits(2001) and then again on her next
compilation album,
The Ballads(2008). It was released as the second single
from
Songsin 1994.
Sony Music Entertainment President Tommy Mottola suggested
that Vandross record
Songs, an album of cover versions. Featuring Vandross'
versions of songs like Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're
With," Heatwave's "Always and Forever," and Roberta Flack's
"Killing Me Softly," the album was shaping up to be a major
career accomplishment. To give the album a bigger boost,
Mottola's wife, Mariah Carey, came up with the idea to remake
"Endless Love" as a duet with her. Lionel Richie and Diana Ross
had originally recorded "Endless Love" in 1981, and the song
spent nine weeks at number 1. Although Luther's album was
already set to contain one Lionel Richie composition, "Hello,"
it was obvious that having the most-popular female singer on
the Sony label singing on the album would be a benefit.
"Endless Love" debuted on September 10, 1994 at 31 and
peaked at number two. The song became Luther Vandross' biggest
pop hit ever and gave Lionel Richie his first top ten as a
songwriter in seven years. It became Vandross's fifth top ten
single and Carey's twelfth. It remained in the top forty for
thirteen weeks, and was ranked number 56 on the Hot 100 1994
year-end charts. It was also an improvement over Carey's
previous single, "Anytime You Need a Friend," which had missed
the top ten. It was certified gold by the RIAA.
The song was a success outside the U.S, reaching the top of
the chart in New Zealand (for five weeks) and the top five in
the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and the Netherlands. It
also reached the top twenty in most of the countries. It was
certified gold in Australia by ARIA and in New Zealand by
RIANZ.
Two music videos were released for the single; one features
Carey and Vandross recording the song in a studio, and the
other shows the two performing the song live at Royal Albert
Hall. The latter performance is included on the Luther
Vandross: From Luther with Love music video collection in DVD
format.
Some versions of the song itself were released, in which
Carey or Vandross sings solo.
It has been sung by John O'Connell.
The song was also covered by contestant Laura White on UK
singing competition
The X Factor, during a Mariah Carey themed week. Despite
receiving high praise from Carey herself and most of the show's
judges, Laura was eliminated, leading to huge controversy in
the UK media.
The Sean Hannity Showoccasionally plays a mashup of this
song with clips of various news outlets' coverage of President
Barack Obama to demonstrate what Hannity felt was overly
positive coverage of Obama.
The song was covered in an episode of the Fox TV series
Gleeby Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison. The episode is
entitled Ballad.
The song has been performed three times on
American Idol, by Rickey Smith, Chris Sligh, and Danny
Gokey. The song was also performed on Australian Idol in 2007
by eventual winner Natalie Gauci on the Final 7 Birth Year
theme night.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
·"Remember Me"
·"I'm Still
Waiting"
·"Surrender"
·"Touch Me in the
Morning"
·"All of My Life"
·"You Are
Everything"
·"Theme from (Do
You Know Where You're Going To)"
·"Love Hangover"
·"Upside Down"
·"I'm Coming Out"
·"My Old Piano"
·"It's My Turn"
·"
Endless Love
"
·"Why Do Fools
Fall in Love"
·"Mirror, Mirror"
·"Work That Body"
·"Muscles"
·"Missing You"
·"Chain Reaction"
·"When You Tell Me
That You Love Me"
·"One Shining
Moment"
·"Not Over You
Yet"
Lady Sings the Blues(1972)
·
Mahogany(1975)
·
The Wiz(1978)
·
Out of Darkness(1994)
·
Double Platinum(1999)
Discography
·The Supremes
·Berry Gordy
·Rhonda Ross
Kendrick
·Tracee Ellis Ross
·Evan Ross
·Arne Næss, Jr.
·List of awards
and nominations received by Diana Ross
·Diana Ross
Playground
Lionel Richie(1982)
·
Can't Slow Down(1983)
·
Dancing on the Ceiling(1986)
·
Louder Than Words(1996)
·
Time(1998)
·
Renaissance(2000)
·
Just for You(2004)
·
Coming Home(2006)
·
Just Go(2009)
Encore(2002)
·
Live in Paris(2007)
·
Live - His Greatest Hits and More(2007)
Back to Front(1992)
·
Truly: The Love Songs(1997)
·
Gold(2006)
·
Soul Legends(2006)
·
Sounds of the Season(2006)
·
The Definitive Collection(2007)
·
Symphonica in Rosso(2008)
"
Endless Love
" (with Diana Ross) (1981)
·"Truly" (1982)
·"You Are" (1983)
·"My Love" (1983)
·"All Night Long
(All Night)" (1983)
·"Running with the
Night" (1983)
·"Hello" (1984)
·"Stuck on You"
(1984)
·"Penny Lover"
(1984)
·"Say You, Say Me"
(1985)
·"Dancing on the
Ceiling" (1986)
·"Love Will
Conquer All" (1986)
·"Ballerina Girl"
(1986)
·"My Destiny"
(1992)
Discography
·Commodores