"When Will I Be Loved" is a popular song

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

, written by Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...

 and a #8 hit single for that duo in the summer of 1960. The track had been recorded in 1959 while the Everly Brothers were contracted to Cadence Records

Cadence Records

Cadence Records was an American record company based in New York City. It was founded by Archie Bleyer, who had been the musical director and orchestra leader for Arthur Godfrey in 1952...

; by 1960 they had moved to Warner Brothers

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

 and recording in a more mainstream pop/rock style than previously. The belated release by Cadence of "When Will I Be Loved" provided the Everly Brothers with a final rockabilly

Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

-style hit.

The song had its highest profile when Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...

 covered it on her album Heart Like A Wheel

Heart Like a Wheel

Heart Like a Wheel is Linda Ronstadt's fifth solo album release and the last-ever of her studio projects for Capitol Records, released in late 1974. It is universally considered to be Ronstadt's all-time high watermark masterpiece recording and a pioneering blueprint of Country Rock...

released by Capitol Records

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

 in November 1974; this version rearranges the verses of the Everly Brothers original, transposing the first and third verses. Capitol was unsure whether to release "When Will I Be Loved" or "You're No Good

You're No Good

"You're No Good" is a song written by Clint Ballard, Jr. which first charted for Betty Everett in 1963 and in 1975 was a #1 hit for Linda Ronstadt....

" as the lead single off Heart Like a Wheel, only deciding to issue "You're No Good" as a single a week after the album's release. "When Will I Be Loved" was issued as the second single in April 1975 to ascend to #2 on 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...

 that June of that year; only the chart dominance of the year's biggest hit: "Love Will Keep Us Together

Love Will Keep Us Together

"Love Will Keep Us Together" is a popular song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield in 1973. It was first released in the United Kingdom on Sedaka's 1973 LP The Tra-La Days Are Over, which was never released in the U.S. The song arrived in the U.S...

" by Captain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille are American pop music recording artists who achieved chart success from 1975 to 1980. The duo consists of husband and wife duo "Captain" Daryl Dragon , and Cathryn Antoinette "Toni" Tennille . They are best known for their singles "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Do That to Me...

 preventing Ronstadt from having consecutive #1 hit singles on the Hot 100 — a feat she did perform on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart on 21 June 1975, which ranked "When Will I Be Loved" at #1 ("You're No Good" had been #1 in both Billboard and Cash Box 15 February 1975). Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

 did afford a #1 ranking to "When Will I Be Loved" on its C&W

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 chart, where it was Ronstadt's first chart-topper.

As Ronstadt's "When Will I Be Loved" descended the charts, its B-side, a remake of Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...

's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore

It Doesn't Matter Anymore

"It Doesn't Matter Anymore" is a pop ballad written by Paul Anka and recorded by Buddy Holly in 1958. The song reached #13 as a posthumous hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in early 1959 shortly after Holly was killed in a plane crash on February 3, 1959. The single was a two-sided hit, backed...

", garnered enough airplay to chart at #47 Pop, #20 Adult Contemporary and #54 Country.

Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...

 included a version of the song on their number-one EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 in 1966.

Tanya Tucker

Tanya Tucker

Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...

 recorded "When Will I Be Loved" for her 1975 album Tanya Tucker; the track features a harmony vocal by the song's composer, Phil Everly.

The 1985 Magnum, P.I.

Magnum, P.I.

Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....

episode "Let Me Hear the Music" features a live performance of "When Will I Be Loved" by Amanda McBroom

Amanda McBroom

Amanda McBroom is an American singer, songwriter and cabaret performer. One of the songs she has written is "The Rose", which Bette Midler sang in the film of the same name...

 while the "Jami McFame" episode of According to Jim

According to Jim

According to Jim is an American sitcom television series starring Jim Belushi in the title role as a suburban father of three children. It originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2001 to June 2, 2009.-Synopsis:Jim is an abrasive but lovable suburban father...

(2008) features Jamison Belushi - daughter of series star James Belushi

James Belushi

James Adam "Jim" Belushi is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi.-Early life:Belushi was born in Chicago...

 - performing the song.

Ria performed the song in the movie When Will I Be Loved (2004).

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

 performed the song on 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 2005.

John Fogerty

John Fogerty

John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...

 remade "When Will I Be Loved" for his 2009 album The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again

The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again

- Tracks not included :There were 15 songs recorded from a long list of songs that Fogerty, Burnett and Waronker put together. Fogerty did not release the specific titles, but a Merle Haggard song was revealed to be among the three unreleased tunes.- Production :...

; the track is performed as a duet with Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

.

Versions of "When Will I Be Loved" have also been recorded by John Denver

John Denver

Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...

, The Little River Band, Gram Parsons

Gram Parsons

Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...

, Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

, Sandy Posey

Sandy Posey

Sandy Posey is an American popular singer, who enjoyed success in the 1960s with singles such as her 1966 recording of Martha Sharpe's composition, "Single Girl." She is often described as a country singer, although, like Skeeter Davis her output has varied...

 and Rockpile

Rockpile

Rockpile were a British rock and roll group of the late 1970s and early 1980s, noted for their strong rockabilly and power pop influences, and as a foundational influence on new wave...

. Vince Gill

Vince Gill

Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...

 recorded the song for the soundtrack

8 Seconds (soundtrack)

-Chart performance:...

 of the 1994 movie 8 Seconds

8 Seconds

8 Seconds is a 1994 biographical film about American rodeo legend and world bull riding champion Lane Frost. It details his life from his youth learning how to ride bulls, until his death in 1989. It was directed by John G...

.

Chart performance

The Everly Brothers

Chart (1960)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Chart	3
Canadian RPM Top Singles	16
U.K. Singles Chart	4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	8

Linda Ronstadt

Chart (1975)	Peak position
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Country Singles	1
Canadian RPM Top Singles	7
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	3
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2