2012/01/13

The Whispers in the Morning




The Power of Love (Jennifer Rush song)

"The Power of Love"
Single by Jennifer Rush
from the album Jennifer Rush
B-side "I See A Shadow (Not A Fantasy)"
Released 1985
Format 7" single
Recorded 1984
CBS Studios International
(Frankfurt am Main)
Genre Pop, Soft rock
Length

4:26 (single version)

6:03 (album version)
Label CBS
Writer(s) Gunther Mende, Candy DeRouge, Jennifer Rush, Mary Susan Applegate
Producer Gunther Mende, Candy DeRouge
Jennifer Rush singles chronology
"The Power of Love"
(UK)
(1985)		 "Ring of Ice"
(UK)
(1985)
Audio sample
file info·help

"The Power of Love" is a power ballad co-written and originally recorded by Jennifer Rush. It has been covered by several artists, most notably by Laura Branigan, Air Supply, and Céline Dion, and translated into several languages, becoming a pop standard.

Original Jennifer Rush version

The song was first recorded by Jennifer Rush in 1984. The American born Rush, who had been recording for CBS (Frankfurt) with producers Gunther Mende and Candy DeRouge since 1982, had her first German chart placing in 1984 with the Top 30 hits "25 Lovers" and "Ring of Ice" "The Power of Love"* - written by Candy de Rouge(Wolfgang Detmann), Mende, Rush with Mary Susan Applegate(*Candy de Rouge demoed the first version of his composition in 1983 under the title "You were my Lady and I was your man" in the europasoundstudios/friedrichsdorf/germany) - then took Rush into the Top 20 with a #17 peak in March 1985. CBS Records London chief Paul Russell had heard Rush sing at a CBS Records convention held in Hawaii in 1984 and it was due to Russell's interest in Rush that "The Power of Love" was released in the UK, debuting at #97 on the UK chart dated 22 June 1985. Within a month the disc had stalled at the lower end of the Top 50: CBS resultantly deleted the single for a few weeks to concentrate demand in hopes of effecting a Top 40 debut upon the single's re-release. In fact "The Power of Love" did enter the Top 40 of the first UK chart subsequent to being re-released, appearing at #36 on the UK chart dated 21 September 1985, and Rush was consequently allowed to perform "The Power of Love" on Top of the Pops with a resultant leap for the disc, first to #15 and then to #2, with two further TOTP performances enabling the song’s rise to #1 and retaining the top spot for five weeks with a total of ten weeks accrued in the Top Ten; eventually Rush's "The Power of Love" was assessed as the most successful UK single by a female singer.

The massive success of "The Power of Love" in the UK occasioned widespread international success for Rush's single in the last months of 1985 and the first of 1986 including a German re-release of "The Power of Love" with a resultant #9 charting. Eventually "The Power of Love" reached #1 in Australia, Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and South Africa, and also charted in Denmark (#9), France (#25), the Netherlands (#7), Switzerland (#3) and Sweden (#3). The success of Rush's "The Power of Love" in Spain - where it reached #2 in March 1986 - led Rush to render her song in Spanish and the resultant Si tu eres mi hombre y yo tu mujer spent six weeks at #1 in Spain from 19 April 1986.

CBS held off on releasing "The Power of Love" in North America feeling the disc was "too European" the disc finally saw release in the US and Canada in January 1986 but despite rising to #1 in Canada that spring Rush's "The Power of Love" failed to become a significant US hit stalling at #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 despite performances by Rush on the March 11, 1986 broadcast of The Tonight Show and the 12 April 1986 broadcast of American Bandstand.

A remixed version of "The Power of Love" released in 1986 rose as high as #55 UK in January 1987.

Charts

Laura Branigan version

"Power of Love"
Single by Laura Branigan
from the album Touch
B-side "Spirit of Love"
Released July 1987
Format 7", Cassette
Recorded 1987
Powertrax Studio
(Hollywood CA)
Genre Pop, pop rock
Length 5:26
Label Atlantic
Writer(s) Gunther Mende, Candy DeRouge, Jennifer Rush, Mary Susan Applegate
Producer David Kershenbaum
Laura Branigan singles chronology
"Shattered Glass"
(1987)		 "Power of Love"
(1987)		 "Cry Wolf"
(1988)

Laura Branigan recorded "The Power of Love" under the title "Power of Love" for her 1987 album release Touch; produced by David Kershenbaum at his Powertrax Studio in Hollywood, the track was released in October 1987 as the album's second single, the lead single "Shattered Glass" having failed to boost Branigan's faded chart presence with a disappointing #48 peak on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 1987 "Power of Love" returned Branigan to the Top 30 for the first time in over three years only to stall at #26 as despite sales ranked as high as #19 on the "Billboard Hot 100 Sales Chart" the single lacked support from mainstream Pop radio (although Kiss 108 Boston ranked Branigan's "Power of Love" as high as #3). The single was more successful as an Adult Contemporary item with a #19 peak. Laura Branigan's final Top 40 hit, "Power of Love" failed to restore Branigan's chart fortunes outside the US, the Jennifer Rush version having been a hit in virtually all the territories where Branigan had scored hits.

Branigan performed "Power of Love" on the 1/30/1988 broadcast of Solid Gold: this appearance was reprised on "Solid Gold Ladies of the 80's" episode broadcast 4/30/1988 marking the last of Branigan's twenty-five appearances on the show.

A staple of Branigan's live act, "Power of Love" appears on the 2007 re-release of Touch on Wounded Bird Records and on the collections The Best of Branigan, The Essentials: Laura Branigan and The Platinum Collection.

Formats and track listings

7" vinyl single/cassette single

  1. "Power of Love" (single version) – 4:44
  2. "Spirit of Love" (single version) – 3:35

Official versions

Charts

Céline Dion version

"The Power of Love"
Single by Céline Dion
from the album The Colour of My Love
Released November 1, 1993
Format CD single, cassette single, vinyl single
Recorded 1993
The Enterprise, Ground Control, Record Plant
Genre Pop, soft rock
Length 5:43 (album version)
4:42 (radio edit)
Label Columbia, Epic
Writer(s) Gunther Mende, Candy DeRouge, Jennifer Rush, Mary Susan Applegate
Producer David Foster, John Fields
Certification Platinum (Australia, U.S.)
Gold (New Zealand)
Silver (France)
Céline Dion singles chronology
"Plus haut que moi"
(1993)		 "The Power of Love"
(1993)		 "Love Lights the World"
(1994)
The Colour of My Love track listing
"The Power of Love"
(1)		 "Misled"
(2)
All the Way... A Decade of Song track listing
"The Power of Love"
(1)		 "If You Asked Me To"
(2)
Audio sample
file info·help

"The Power of Love " is the second (if counting "When I Fall in Love" as first) single from Céline Dion's 1993 album, The Colour of My Love. It was released on November 1, 1993 in North America, in December in Japan, and the next year in the rest of the world.

"The Power of Love" is the second Jennifer Rush song Dion has covered. Earlier the same year she recorded a French adaptation of "Higher Ground," called "Plus haut que moi."

The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single in 1995.

It was included on Dion's greatest hits compilations: All the Way… A Decade of Song in 1999 and My Love: Essential Collection in 2008. Live versions of this song can be found on the albums: À l'Olympia, Live à Paris and Taking Chances World Tour: The Concert (English edition.)

"The Power of Love" became an international smash hit. The song rose to the top of the charts in the United States, Australia and Canada. In the U.S. it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 4 weeks, the first Céline Dion single to do so. It also went to number 1 for 5 weeks on the Hot 100 Singles Sales and to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay. It was also number 1 for 4 weeks on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks.

The song spent 12 weeks at the top in Canada and 70 weeks on the chart in total. "The Power of Love" was a top 10 hit in the rest of the world (number 3 in France, number 4 in the United Kingdom and Belgium, number 6 in Sweden, number 7 in New Zealand). It was certified platinum in the U.S. (1,120,000 copies sold) and Australia (70,000), gold in New Zealand (5,000) and silver in France (225,000 copies sold).

Music video

The music video made for the radio edit was directed by Randee St. Nicholas and released in November 1993. It appeared on Dion's 2001 DVD video collection All the Way… A Decade of Song & Video.

Formats and track listings

Japanese CD single

  1. "The Power of Love" (radio edit) – 4:42
  2. "If You Asked Me To" – 3:55

Worldwide CD single

  1. "The Power of Love" (radio edit) – 4:42
  2. "No Living Without Loving You" – 4:23

European CD maxi single

  1. "The Power of Love" (radio edit) – 4:42
  2. "No Living Without Loving You" – 4:23
  3. "Did You Give Enough Love" – 4:21

Japanese CD maxi single

  1. "The Power of Love" (radio edit) – 4:42
  2. "No Living Without Loving You" – 4:23
  3. "If You Asked Me To" – 3:55

Official versions

  1. "The Power of Love" (radio edit) – 4:42
  2. "The Power of Love" (album version) – 5:43

Charts and certifications

Peak positions

End of year charts

End of decade charts

Certifications

Other versions

Air Supply had recorded "The Power of Love" for their 1986 eponymous Arista Records album release (produced by Peter Collins) at the time the Jennifer Rush version had its first charting in Germany. The hesitancy of CBS in releasing Rush's version in North America allowed for the US of the Air Supply version as a single in August 1985 when - despite being subtitled "You Are My Lady" - confusion with Huey Lewis and the News current #1 hit entitled "The Power of Love" was inevitable factoring into the Air Supply single's stalling at #68 on the Hot 100 in Billboard (where its Adult Contemporary peak was #13). In the last months of 1985 the Air Supply version of "The Power of Love" did become a moderate success in Canada (#35) and New Zealand (#21) making the subsequent #1 success of the Jennifer Rush original in those nations that much more remarkable.

The Shadows did an instrumental cover on their 1986 album Moonlight Shadows.

Other male artists to have recorded the English version of the song include David Alexander, Mark Bautista, Michael Crawford, Engelbert Humperdink, and Andrea Bocelli, who recorded the song for his second studio album, Bocelli, released in 1995. In addition to Jennifer Rush, Laura Branigan and Celine Dion, other female artists to have recorded the English version of the song include Shirley Bassey, Mary Duff and Nana Mouskouri. A Hi-NRG version credited to Beverly was a Top 20 hit in Australia in 1994 reaching #16 that March: this version and that by Céline Dion coexisted in the Australian Top 50 for thirteen weeks.

In 1991 Belgian duo Go-Rich, comprising Peter Fargo and William Rich, recorded a Dutch version of "The Power of Love" entitled "De kracht van een lied". Another Dutch rendering: "Land van ons twee" recorded by Sanne, reached #2 on the charts for the Flemish Region of Belgium in December 1996, overall spending 22 weeks in the Ultratop 50 eleven of them in the Top Ten.

The Spanish version of "The Power of Love" introduced by Jennifer Rush: ""Si tu eres mi hombre y yo tu mujer", has been recorded by a number of Latin artists including Yolandita Monge, Amanda Miguel, Angela Carrasco, La India (#13 on Latin Tropical Airplay), also by Los Melódicos, and Operación Triunfo alumna Dulce. Some versions of the song have been made in a Latin style featuring salsa and merengue rhythms. Brazilian singer Rosana recorded a Portuguese version: "O Amor e o Poder", in 1987.

Petra Janů, a Czech female singer, recorded with the band Golem Jana Václavíka a Czechoslovakian version of the song, "Už nejsem volná", which she released as a single from her album Už nejsem volná (1986). Janů released a live version in 1988 and re-recorded the song in 1997. Romanian singer Eva Kiss also recorded the song with the name of "Puterea dragostei" in the 80's. Angelika Milster recorded a German version of "The Power of Love" entitled "Du bist mein Leben" for her 1995 album Ich liebe Dich produced by Jack White. A German version, "Die Macht der Liebe" made it onto West German pop charts in the 1980s. A Punjabi version of the song ("Sitam," sung by Amar) was featured in the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham. Japanese singer Yuna Ito recorded the song for her second album Wish.

A Swedish song with a different theme, "Ängel i natt" ("Angel Tonight"), was written and recorded to the music of "The Power of Love" in 1985 by Elisabeth Andreassen. In 1995, Swedish dansband Sten & Stanley recorded "Ängel i natt."

In 2010, the Japanese singer Juju covered "The Power of Love" on her third album.

The popular Taiwanese singer, Teresa Teng, recorded a version of this song in 1985.

References

  • Chrissie Hammond
  • Jeremy Paul
  • Frank Esler-Smith
  • David Moyse
  • Brian Hamilton
  • Rex Goh
  • David Green
  • Ralph Cooper
  • Wally Stocker
  • Cliff Rehrig
  • Mark T. Williams
  • Guy Allison
  • Carrigan Chantz
  • Tommy Emmanuel
  • Don Cromwell
  • Ken Rarick
  • Adrian Smith
  • Nigel Macara
  • others
Studio albums Live & compilations
Singles
Related articles
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