"Endless Love" is a song written by Lionel Richie and originally recorded as a duet between Richie and fellow R&B singer Diana Ross. In this ballad, the singers declare their "endless love" for one another. It was covered by R&B singer Luther Vandross with fellow R&B singer Mariah Carey and also by country music singer Shania Twain. Richie's friend Kenny Rogers has also recorded the song. Billboard has named the original version as the greatest song duet of all-time.
About the record
Ross and Richie recorded the song for Motown, and it was used as the theme for the Franco Zeffirelli's film adaptation of Scott Spencer's novel Endless Love. Produced by Richie and arranged by Gene Page, it was released as a single from the film's soundtrack in 1981. While the film Endless Love was a modest box-office success, the song became the second biggest-selling single of the year in the United States and reached number 1 on the Hot 100, where it stayed for nine weeks from August 15 to October 10, 1981. It also topped the Billboard R&B chart and the Adult Contemporary chart, and reached number 7 in the United Kingdom. It also became the most successful duet of the rock era, surpassing the Everly Brothers' 1957 hit "Wake Up Little Susie," which spent four weeks at number one. Both songs spent six months on the chart, with "Endless Love" eclipsing the Everlys' hit by one week. The soulful composition became the biggest-selling single of Ross' career, and her 18th and final career number-one single. It was also Richie's biggest charting single, and the first of several hits for Richie during the 1980s. Ross recorded a solo version of the song for her first RCA Records album, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, the duet version being her last hit on Motown. Richie solo version was released as track ten on the '2003 remaster bonus' edition Richie's 1982 album. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Richie, and was the second song with which Ross was involved that was nominated for an Oscar. It also won a 1982 American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single.
produced Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey's cover of the song for Vandross' Epic Records-released album Songs, and it is known for being Carey's first "high-profile" duet. At the 1995 Grammy Awards, the song was nominated in the new category of Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, losing to "Funny How Time Slips Away" by Al Green and Lyle Lovett. Columbia Records later included the song on Carey's compilation albumGreatest Hits and then again on her next compilation album, The Ballads. It was released as the second single from Songs in 1994.
Recording
President Tommy Mottola suggested that Vandross record Songs, an album of cover versions. Featuring Vandross' versions of songs like Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With", Heatwave's "Always and Forever", and Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly", the album was shaping up to be a major career accomplishment. To give the album a bigger boost, Mottola's then-wife, Mariah Carey, came up with the idea to remake "Endless Love" as a duet with her. Lionel Richie and Diana Ross had originally recorded "Endless Love" in 1981, and the song spent nine weeks at number 1. Although Luther's album was already set to contain one Lionel Richie composition, "Hello", it was obvious that having the most-popular female artist on the Sony label singing on the album would be a benefit.
Critical reception
AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine highlighted this track. Entertainment Weeklys Jeremy Helligar wrote that the album might very will give Vandross a number one hit with "Endless Love" but still called the song "drippy."
"Endless Love" debuted on September 10, 1994 at number 31 and peaked at number 2, held back from the top position by Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You". The song became Luther Vandross' highest-charting pop hit ever and gave Lionel Richie his first top ten as a songwriter in seven years. It became Vandross's fifth top-ten single and Carey's twelfth. It remained in the top forty for thirteen weeks, and was ranked number 56 on the Hot 100 1994 year-end charts. It was also an improvement over Carey's previous single, "Anytime You Need a Friend", which had missed the top ten. It was certified gold by the RIAA. The song was a success outside the United States, reaching the top of the chart in New Zealand and the top five in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and the Netherlands. It also reached the top 20 in most of the countries. It was certified Platinum in Australia by ARIA and in New Zealand by RIANZ. Total sales in the United Kingdom stand at 230,000.
Music video
Two music videos were released for the single; one features Carey and Vandross recording the song in a studio, and the other shows the two performing the song live at Royal Albert Hall. The latter performance is included on the Luther Vandross: From Luther with Love music video collection in DVD format. Some versions of the song itself were released, in which Carey or Vandross sings solo.
Lionel Richie re-recorded the song in 2011 as a duet with Canadian country pop singer Shania Twain. It was released as the lead single from his album Tuskegee on February 7, 2012. The recording process of song was documented in the final episode of Twain's realitydocudrama series, Why Not? with Shania Twain, which aired on June 12, 2011.
Music video
A music video for the song was recorded in The Bahamas in February 2012. Directed by Paul Boyd, the video was released to country music channels CMT and GAC on March 23, 2012.
