"How 'Bout Us" is a 1981 hit single recorded by R&B music group Champaign

Champaign (band)

Champaign was a 1980s United States R&B band with adult contemporary leanings, best known for their 1981 hit, "How 'Bout Us."-Career:The mixed-race septet, who named themselves after their hometown of Champaign, Illinois, included Pauli Carman and Rena Jones on vocals; Michael Day and Dana Walden...

 and composed by band keyboardist

Keyboardist

A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...

 Dana Walden. Originally released on the band's debut album of the same name, the title track peaked at #12 on the Hot 100. Of Champaign's seven charting singles, the song remains the group's most successful.

Song information

"How 'Bout Us" peaked at #4 on the soul chart and was one of three releases to make the top 10 on the soul chart. The song was on the Hot 100 chart for 23 weeks, peaking at #12 on 6 June 1981, and also reached the top of the Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks. The title track of Champaign's debut album and their first single, the tune combines instrumentals, traditional background vocals repeated multiple times, and poetic verses performed by Champaign's lead vocalist Pauli Carman to create a sound similar to other ballads released during the time.

Reception

Both the song and the album it debuted on where acclaimed by Allmusic who called it "[a] smooth, well-crafted pop-R&B topped by the creamy vocals of Pauli Carman and Rena Jones. This debut is a pop hybrid that sounds very promising, although the group never followed through adequately."

Charts

Chart (1981)	Peak position
US 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...	12
US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...	1
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...	4
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	5

Cover Versions

The song has been covered as a duet between established blue-eyed soul

Blue-eyed soul

Blue-eyed soul is a media term that was used to describe rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white artists, with a strong pop music influence. The term was first used in the mid-1960s to describe white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music of the Motown and...

 singer/musician Grayson Hugh

Grayson Hugh

Grayson Hugh is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, Hammond B3 organ player and composer born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was the first generation of his family to be born in the United States. Hugh grew up surrounded by classical music, his father being the classical music radio host Ivor...

 and noted R&B superstar, Betty Wright

Betty Wright

Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...

; their version, from the soundtrack of the 1989 film True Love

True Love (1989 film)

True Love is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Nancy Savoca. An unflinching look at the realities of love and marriage which offers no "happily ever after" ending, it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1989 Sundance Film Festival.-Cast:...

, peaked at #67 on the American pop charts, crossing over to #30 R&B.

Versions have also been released by Johnny Logan

Johnny Logan (singer)

Johnny Logan , is an Australian-born Irish singer and composer. He is regarded as "Mister Eurovision", having participated in the Eurovision Song Contest many times since the 1970s, and, since 1992, has been the most successful artist in Eurovision history.Logan has won the international contest on...

 in 1991 and Lulu

Lulu (singer)

Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...

in 1993.