Lady (Kenny Rogers song)

"Lady"
Single by Kenny Rogers
from the album Greatest Hits
B-side "Sweet Music Man"
Released September 29, 1980 (U.S.)
Format 7"
Recorded 1980
Genre Country, Pop
Length 3:54
Label Liberty 1380
Writer(s) Lionel Richie
Producer(s) Lionel Richie
Certification Gold (RIAA)
Kenny Rogers singles chronology
"Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer"
(with Kim Carnes)
(1980)
"Lady"
(1980)
"What Are We Doin' in Love"
(with Dottie West)
(1981)

"Lady" is a song written by Lionel Richie and first recorded by American country artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in September 1980 on the album Kenny Rogers' Greatest Hits.

It is listed at #47 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.[1]

Song history

The song was written and produced by Lionel Richie, recorded in 1980, and ranks among Kenny Rogers's biggest hits. Rogers once told an interviewer, "The idea was that Lionel would come from R&B and I'd come from country, and we'd meet somewhere in pop."

The success of "Lady" also boosted Richie's career. The production work on the song was his first outside the Commodores and foreshadowed his success as a solo act during the 1980s. Rogers was also a featured vocalist on "We Are the World", co-written by Richie. Richie performed the song himself on his 1998 album, Time, and he and Rogers performed the song as a duet on Richie's 2012 release Tuskegee.

Chart performance

Since his breakup with the First Edition, Rogers had tasted considerable success as a solo act, with nine No. 1 entries on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart (prior to the release of "Lady"), plus several Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary Singles charts.

"Lady," according to music historian Fred Bronson, would prove to be an important record for both Richie and Rogers. It became the first record of the 1980s to chart on all four of Billboard magazine's singles charts - country, Hot 100, adult contemporary and Top Black Singles.

It reached No. 1 on three of those charts in late 1980, including a six-week run on the Hot 100 and one week on the Hot Country Singles chart. "Lady" also peaked at number forty-two on the Top Black Singles chart.[2]

As a country entry, "Lady" was Rogers' 10th chart-topping hit in a career that saw him collect 20 No. 1 songs between 1977 and 2000. On the Hot 100, it was his only solo chart-topping song, although Rogers would have a duet No. 1 three years later (1983's "Islands in the Stream" with Dolly Parton). On the Adult Contemporary Singles chart, "Lady" was Rogers' second (of eight) songs that reached the chart's summit. Billboard ranked it at the No. 3 song for 1981.

Weekly charts

Chart (1980-81) Peak
position
Australia KMR [3] 15
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[4] 17
Canadian RPM Country Tracks 2
Canadian RPM Top Singles 2
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks 6
France (SNEP)[5] 11
Ireland (IRMA) 12
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[6] 16
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[7] 6
Spain (AFYVE)[8] 19
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[9] 12
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[10] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[11] 1
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[12] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1980) Rank
U.S. Cash Box [13] 6
Chart (1981) Rank
Australia [3] 93
Canada 43
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [14] 3

End-of-decade charts

End of decade (1980–89) Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 10

See also

References

  1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 499.
  2. 1 2 Steffen Hung. "Forum - Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts - 1980s (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  3. "Ultratop.be – Kenny Rogers – {{{song}}}" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  4. "Lescharts.com – Kenny Rogers – {{{song}}}" (in French). Les classement single.
  5. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Kenny Rogers search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
  6. "Charts.org.nz – Kenny Rogers – {{{song}}}". Top 40 Singles.
  7. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  8. Kenny Rogers UK Charts history, The Official Charts. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  9. "Kenny Rogers – Chart history" Billboard Hot Country Songs for Kenny Rogers.
  10. "Kenny Rogers – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Kenny Rogers.
  11. "Kenny Rogers – Chart history" Billboard Adult Contemporary for Kenny Rogers.
  12. "Top 100 Hits of 1981/Top 100 Songs of 1981". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.

Bibliography

External links

Preceded by
"Woman in Love"
by Barbra Streisand
Billboard Hot 100
number-one single

November 15-December 20, 1980
Succeeded by
"(Just Like) Starting Over"
by John Lennon
Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary
number-one single

November 15-December 6, 1980
Succeeded by
"Never Be the Same"
by Christopher Cross
Preceded by
"Could I Have This Dance"
by Anne Murray
Billboard Hot Country Singles
number-one single

November 22, 1980
Succeeded by
"If You Ever Change Your Mind"
by Crystal Gayle
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.