Some could have questioned Barry White’s judgement when, within the autumn of 1978, he coated a music from solely 12 months earlier which was already on its solution to changing into a straightforward listening basic and double Grammy-winner.
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However the soul man’s instincts have been spot on. Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are” was the form of gem that will adapt completely effectively to an R&B interpretation. On December 16 that yr, White’s model, launched as a UK single from his album The Man, entered the charts and went on to be the second-longest-running hit he ever had there.
The duvet opened at a modest No.61, however turned Barry’s thirteenth Prime 40 UK hit in simply 5 and a half years, climbing steadily over the vacation and new yr interval. It landed at No.12 in late January, its 12-week gross sales span solely outdone in his chart life there by the 14 weeks logged by his 1974 No.1 “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything.”
Unusually, too, that worldwide success outstripped the home efficiency of White’s “Just The Way You Are.” The US single made the R&B chart in January 1979, however solely reached No.45 and didn’t cross over to the Scorching 100.
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Joel’s music attracted a minimum of 15 different cowl variations in 1978 alone, together with interpretations by everybody from Johnny Mathis to Grover Washington Jr, Engelbert Humperdinck to Ray Conniff and from Dionne Warwick to Isaac Hayes. Dozens extra would accrue within the ensuing years, for a quantity that was named each Document of the 12 months and Track of the 12 months on the Grammy Awards of 1979. “Just The Way You Are” was even granted the honour of an interpretation by Frank Sinatra, on his Trilogy album, launched in 1980.
Store Barry White’s music on restricted version vinyl and CDs right here.
