Best of My Love (The Emotions song)
Encyclopedia
"Best of My Love" is a disco song by the band The Emotions
released as a single from their album Rejoice
(1977). The song was composed by Maurice White
and Al McKay
of Earth, Wind & Fire
. Earth, Wind & Fire would later team up with the Emotions for the 1979 hit "Boogie Wonderland
". "Best of My Love" won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and also won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single.
The song was listed at #87 on The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs. and it was the third biggest Pop song of 1977 and the fifth biggest R&B song of 1977. "Best of My Love" has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.. Recent reviews have been largely positive, and the song continues to appear on "Best of the '70's" lists.
chart for 5 non-consecutive weeks. The song managed to stay at the top spot of the chart for four consecutive weeks until it was dethroned by Andy Gibb
's "I Just Want To Be Your Everything
". The single returned and spent an additional week on top of the Billboard Hot 100
. On the disco chart, "Best of My Love" would peak at number eleven. Eventually, the single received a Platinum
certification from RIAA, becoming The Emotions' biggest hit to date and their only single to receive a certification.
with Carol Duboc
and Minae Noji (featured in the film Be Cool
), Sakura
, Dee Lewis (1988) and Lisa
. Mary J. Blige
also covered the song in 2004 for the GAP
clothing store company. Pop diva Sheena Easton
covered the song for her disco album "Fabulous" in 2001. Phoebe Snow
does a version on her 1989 album Something Real with a horn section backing her up that includes Randy Brecker
, Tom Scott
and John Faddis.
The song has also been used in reality shows, such as in Australian Idol 2006, in which it was sung by Lavina Williams, in the fourth season of American Idol
, in which it was sung by Vonzell Solomon
, in the second season of Pinoy Dream Academy
, in which it was sung by Liezel Garcia, and in the sixth season of the American Dancing with the Stars
(Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska danced to it in the sixth week of competition).
There is also a Dutch
version of the song, sung by former Dutch Idols
-finalist Dewi Pechler. This version is called "Het Beste Van Mij" and is an exclusive airplay single for the Dutch radio station
100%NL.
In 1994 C.J. Lewis
did a cover it reached #13 in UK
(1997), Summer of Sam
(1999), The Wendell Baker Story
(2005), Mission Impossible III (2006) and The Holiday (2006).
The song was also used in various TV spots for the 2010 dramedy "Why Did I Get Married Too?
"
The song was also covered by Christina Milian
, Carol Duboc and Minae Noji featured in the film Be Cool
(2005).
The rap group 3rd Bass
sampled the song in their song 'Brooklyn-Queens'
The tune was used for WNBC-TV
in New York
to promote their News 4 New York
newscasts in 1980.
R&B Artist Tamia
samples "Best of My Love" for her track "Falling For You" from her self-titled album, Tamia
B-Rock and the Bizz
sampled the bassline for their song "My Baby Daddy
".
The Emotions
The Emotions are an American all female soul and R&B singing group. The group was formed in its current hometown of Chicago, Illinois originally consisting of the three Hutchinson sisters, all the children of Joseph and Lillian Hutchinson....
released as a single from their album Rejoice
Rejoice (The Emotions album)
Rejoice is an album by The Emotions released on Columbia Records and produced by Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire. The album contains the highly successful number one Pop, R&B and Disco hit, "Best of My Love" and Rejoice has been certified platinum in the US by the RIAA. Rejoice was also the...
(1977). The song was composed by Maurice White
Maurice White
Maurice White is a Grammy Award–winning American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger. He is the older brother of Verdine White and Fred White and the leader and founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire...
and Al McKay
Al McKay
Al McKay is a guitarist, songwriter, producer and former member of the American funk band Earth, Wind & Fire. Al used to lead his own group Al McKay's L.A...
of Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
. Earth, Wind & Fire would later team up with the Emotions for the 1979 hit "Boogie Wonderland
Boogie Wonderland
"Boogie Wonderland" is a 1979 hit single by Earth, Wind & Fire featuring The Emotions. Boogie Wonderland was written by Allee Willis and Jon Lind, and included on the album I Am...
". "Best of My Love" won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and also won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single.
The song was listed at #87 on The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs. and it was the third biggest Pop song of 1977 and the fifth biggest R&B song of 1977. "Best of My Love" has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.. Recent reviews have been largely positive, and the song continues to appear on "Best of the '70's" lists.
Song description
The song has an upbeat vibe, with a prominent bass line and horns accenting the drums between the verses and chorus.Chart performance
The single achieved huge success, remaining on top of the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart for 5 non-consecutive weeks. The song managed to stay at the top spot of the chart for four consecutive weeks until it was dethroned by Andy Gibb
Andy Gibb
Andy Gibb was an English singer and teen idol, and the youngest brother of the family whose other male siblings formed the Bee Gees: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb.-The early years:...
's "I Just Want To Be Your Everything
I Just Want to Be Your Everything
"I Just Want to Be Your Everything" was a hit song by pop singer Andy Gibb. The first single released from his debut album, Flowing Rivers, it became the first of three consecutive number one Billboard Hot 100 singles for Gibb...
". The single returned and spent an additional week on top of the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. On the disco chart, "Best of My Love" would peak at number eleven. Eventually, the single received a Platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
certification from RIAA, becoming The Emotions' biggest hit to date and their only single to receive a certification.
Covers
The song has been covered numerous times by various artists, including Christina MilianChristina Milian
Christine Flores , better known by her stage name Christina Milian , is an American singer-songwriter, actress, dancer, and model....
with Carol Duboc
Carol Duboc
Carol Duboc is a composer, jazz vocalist and actress.As a composer, Duboc co-wrote and arranged the vocals for "Precious" which was the title cut on Chante Moore's debut album which was certified Gold in 1994 and reached #20 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1993...
and Minae Noji (featured in the film Be Cool
Be Cool
Be Cool is a 2005 crime-comedy film adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1999 novel of the same name and the sequel to Leonard's 1990 novel Get Shorty about mobster Chili Palmer's entrance into the film industry.The film adaptation of Be Cool began production in 2003. It was directed by F...
), Sakura
Sakura Tange
Sakura Tange is an idol, seiyū and singer who was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan. She is best known for providing the voice of Sakura Kinomoto in the anime series Cardcaptor Sakura....
, Dee Lewis (1988) and Lisa
LISA (musician)
is a Japanese-Colombian singer and producer better known as LISA. In 1999 she formed the Japanese urban contemporary group M-Flo with Verbal and Taku Takahashi. Daughter of a Japanese father and Afro-Colombian mother, LISA met her fellow band members while attending international school in Tokyo...
. Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...
also covered the song in 2004 for the GAP
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
clothing store company. Pop diva Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
covered the song for her disco album "Fabulous" in 2001. Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow was a fictional character created by Earnest Elmo Calkins to promote the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The advertising campaign, based on a live model, using impressionistic techniques and a fictional character, was one of the first of its kind.-The advertising...
does a version on her 1989 album Something Real with a horn section backing her up that includes Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
, Tom Scott
Tom Scott (musician)
Tom Scott is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble The L.A. Express.-Biography:Scott was born in Los Angeles, California...
and John Faddis.
The song has also been used in reality shows, such as in Australian Idol 2006, in which it was sung by Lavina Williams, in the fourth season of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
, in which it was sung by Vonzell Solomon
Vonzell Solomon
Vonzell Monique Solomon , nicknamed Baby V, is an American singer and aspiring actress who finished in third place in the fourth season of the televised singing competition American Idol. She also appeared in the independent movie Still Green.-Biography:Born in Baxley, Georgia, Solomon's family...
, in the second season of Pinoy Dream Academy
Pinoy Dream Academy
Pinoy Dream Academy is the Philippine version of Endemol's Operación Triunfo . The format is similar to Big Brother, where a set number of finalists would live inside the Academy for four months and will be trained by guest teachers to be multimedia performers...
, in which it was sung by Liezel Garcia, and in the sixth season of the American Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
(Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska danced to it in the sixth week of competition).
There is also a Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
version of the song, sung by former Dutch Idols
Idols (Netherlands)
Idols is a television show on the Dutch television network RTL 4, which is part of the Idol series based on the popular British show Pop Idol. The show is a contest to determine the best young singer in the Netherlands....
-finalist Dewi Pechler. This version is called "Het Beste Van Mij" and is an exclusive airplay single for the Dutch radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
100%NL.
In 1994 C.J. Lewis
C.J. Lewis
C.J. Lewis is a British reggae singer. His biggest hit single was the 1994 cover version of "Sweets for My Sweet". The track was produced by Phillip Pottinger , as was his debut album, Dollars...
did a cover it reached #13 in UK
Usage in film
The song has appeared in many films, including Boogie NightsBoogie Nights
Boogie Nights is a 1997 drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, the script focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic films, and chronicles his rise and fall from the Golden Age of Porn of the 1970s...
(1997), Summer of Sam
Summer of Sam
Summer of Sam is a 1999 crime-drama based around the Son of Sam serial murders. It was directed and produced by Spike Lee.-Plot:Summer of Sam is the story of a group of people in New York City in the summer of 1977, a time when the headlines were dominated by the Son of Sam serial killer...
(1999), The Wendell Baker Story
The Wendell Baker Story
The Wendell Baker Story is a 2005 American film. It is the first film directed by Luke Wilson and his eldest brother Andrew Wilson, which premiered at the 2005 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas in March 2005...
(2005), Mission Impossible III (2006) and The Holiday (2006).
The song was also used in various TV spots for the 2010 dramedy "Why Did I Get Married Too?
Why Did I Get Married Too?
Why Did I Get Married Too? is a 2010 American comedy-drama film produced by Lionsgate and Tyler Perry Studios and stars Janet Jackson, Tyler Perry, and Tasha Smith...
"
The song was also covered by Christina Milian
Christina Milian
Christine Flores , better known by her stage name Christina Milian , is an American singer-songwriter, actress, dancer, and model....
, Carol Duboc and Minae Noji featured in the film Be Cool
Be Cool
Be Cool is a 2005 crime-comedy film adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1999 novel of the same name and the sequel to Leonard's 1990 novel Get Shorty about mobster Chili Palmer's entrance into the film industry.The film adaptation of Be Cool began production in 2003. It was directed by F...
(2005).
Derivatives
"Best of My Love" was allegedly sampled without permission in Mariah Carey's single (ironically called Emotions), resulting in a lawsuit.The rap group 3rd Bass
3rd Bass
3rd Bass was an American hip-hop group that rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was notable for being one of the first successful interracial hip-hop groups.-Career:...
sampled the song in their song 'Brooklyn-Queens'
The tune was used for WNBC-TV
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to promote their News 4 New York
News 4 New York
News 4 New York is the brand identifier of WNBC-TV in New York City. It began using this for its news broadcasts in 1971 to 1972, again on October 13, 1980, and again in March 2008. Prior to this, WNBC used the NewsCenter 4 brand for their newscasts...
newscasts in 1980.
R&B Artist Tamia
Tamia
Tamia Hill , and known professionally as Tamia, is a four-time Grammy-nominated Canadian R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, model, entrepreneur and philanthropist, as well as an occasional actress.She is best known for her 2000 hit "Stranger In My House" and Fabolous' 2003...
samples "Best of My Love" for her track "Falling For You" from her self-titled album, Tamia
Tamia (album)
-Album:-Singles:"—" denotes releases that did not chart.-Personnel:Information taken from Allmusic.*arranging – John Clayton, Keith Crouch, Rod Temperton*assistant engineering – Stephanie Gylden, Kevin Lively, Nick Marshall...
B-Rock and the Bizz
B-Rock and the Bizz
B-Rock & The Bizz was a hip hop ensemble composed of producer Baron "B-Rock" Agee, his brother Leevirt Agee from New York, NY, and Thaddeus "T-Bird" Maye from Mobile, Alabama. Together, T-Bird and Leevirt are known as The Bizz....
sampled the bassline for their song "My Baby Daddy
My Baby Daddy
"My Baby Daddy" was a hit single by B-Rock and the Bizz from their debut album Porkin' Beans & Wienes. The song used a sample of "Best of My Love by The Emotions....
".