9 June 2023 - Lionel Richie & Diana Ross (& Shania Twain) - Endless Love

What is the greatest song duet of all time?

Well, that something that I would call "subjective" but Billboard Magazine has other ideas.   In 2011, they named today's song, "Endless Love", a song written for a movie of the same name starring Brooke Shields, as the greatest duet ever recorded.  

They've got a pretty solid case.  Penned by Lionel Richie, it ended up being the biggest hit of his career.  It was also the biggest hit of Diana Ross's career, and it wasn't close in either case.   In a time before SoundScan, this song spent nine weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100, and surpassed "Wake Up, Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers as the biggest hit by a duet in the rock era i.e. post-1955, spending six MONTHS on the charts. 

It was even a bigger hit than the movie, which was a modest but not blockbuster hit. The song was a blockbuster.   It was nominated for the 1981 Oscar, losing to "Arthur's Theme" - but it was nominated from a movie that was nominated for six Golden Raspberries (none for the music), which is kind of like the opposite of the Oscars.  Richie was also part of a nomination for the 1982 Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media - losing to the team from Raiders of the Lost Ark, which, admittedly, deserved it even though it didn't have a love theme.  

The song is a monster, a ballad of epic proportions, a love song sung from both sides.  At the time, it was the most successful soundtrack single ever (The Bodyguard put that to rest).  There aren't enough superlatives for this song, which is a powerful duet showcasing two huge voices.

It is, of course, Lionel's song, and he has rerecorded it a couple of times.  Most notably, he recorded it in 2011 with country music superstar and noteworthy Canadian Shania Twain - and ended up turning it into an adult contemporary hit.