"What Forever For" is the title of a song written by Rafe VanHoy and recorded by Michael Martin Murphey

Michael Martin Murphey

Michael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, Country music, and Popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter...

. It was released in June 1982 as the third single from the album, Michael Martin Murphey

Michael Martin Murphey (album)

- Track listing :# "Still Takin' Chances"# "Two Step Is Easy"# "What's Forever For"# "Take It Like a Man"# "First Taste of Freedom"# "Love Affairs"# "Ring of Truth"# "Crystal"# "Lost River"# "Hearts in the Right Place"- Credits :...

. "What's Forever For" would be Murphey's second country hit and the first of two number ones on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent sixteen weeks in the top 40.

Chart performance

Chart (1982)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	19
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks	7

Cover versions

• Anne Murray
  Anne Murray
  Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....
  
   on her 1980 album Somebody's Waiting
  Somebody's Waiting
  Somebody's Waiting is the fifteenth studio album by Anne Murray issued, in March 1980 on Capitol Records. The album charted lower in the U.S. than most of Murray's other releases from the same period, peaking at number 15 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and number 88 on the Billboard Pop...
  
  , released by Capitol Records.
• T. G. Sheppard
  T. G. Sheppard
  T. G. Sheppard is an American country music singer, who had 14 number one hits during the 1970s and 1980s.-Early life:...
  
   on his 1981 album I Love 'Em All, released by Warner Brothers Records.
• Billy Gilman
  Billy Gilman
  William Wendell "Billy" Gilman III is an American country music artist. In 2000, at the age of 12, he debuted with the single "One Voice," a Top 20 hit on the Billboard country music charts and became the youngest singer to a Top 40 hit on the country music charts...
  
   on his 2000 album One Voice
  One Voice (Billy Gilman album)
  One Voice is the debut studio album from country music singer Billy Gilman. The album was released on June 20, 2000 via Epic Records Nashville. It reached #2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, and was certified 2× Multi-Platinum. The highest charting single from the album was the...
  
  , released by Epic Records.
• Filipino
  Filipino people
  The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
  
   Acoustic
  Acoustic music
  Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
  
   singer Nyoy Volante covered the song from his 2008 album, Heartstrings.
• England Dan and John Ford Coley on their 1978 album Dr. Heckle & Mr. Jive
  Dr. Heckle & Mr. Jive
  Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive is the seventh album by the pop rock duo England Dan & John Ford Coley. The single "Love Is the Answer" was an American hit, reaching #10...
  
  , released by Big Tree Records.