That's What Friends Are For
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"That's What Friends Are For" is a song composed by Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, as the end theme for the Ron Howard film Night Shift (1982). It was performed and produced by Rod Stewart and released for the movie soundtrack LP, which has yet to be released as a CD. This recording was first released on CD for the compilation album Warner Brothers 75 Years Entertaining in 1998, then Before They Were Hits or We Did It First, Vol. 2 in 2001, and Stewart's second greatest hits compilation Encore: The Very Best of Rod Stewart, Vol. 2 in 2003.
The song is far better known for its cover version by Dionne and Friends, a one-off collaboration among Dionne Warwick featuring Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder. This version was released as a charity single in the United Kingdom in 1985 and the United States in 1986, was recorded as a benefit for American Foundation for AIDS Research, and raised millions for that cause. In 1988, the Washington Post wrote: So working against AIDS, especially after years of raising money for work on many blood-related diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, seemed the right thing to do. "You have to be granite not to want to help people with AIDS, because the devastation that it causes is so painful to see. I was so hurt to see my friend die with such agony," Warwick remembers. "I am tired of hurting and it does hurt."
In 1993, on ABC's Day One, a primetime news magazine hosted by Forrest Sawyer, claimed that Dionne Warwick had managed to pass on only $56,000 from $2.1 million her Warwick Foundation had raised for AIDS charities from an extravagant benefit concert, That's What Friends Are For: AIDS Concert '88, held June 12, 1988 at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The concert had appearances by celebrities and entertainers including Byron Allen, Burt Bacharach, Expose, Howard Hewett, Lena Horne, Elton John, George Kirby, Gladys Knight, Barry Manilow, Sugar Ray Leonard, Holly Robinson, Yakov Smirnoff, Robert Townsend, Leslie Uggams, Blair Underwood, Luther Vandross, Mary Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder and then House Speaker Jim Wright.[1] This never made it to court, and Warwick vigorously disputed the figures. When asked about it, she explained: "If you're going to give your time, then make it comfortable for me, you know?" She said she needed a limousine and a two-bedroom hotel suite, and she didn't want anyone next to her on the plane.[2]
On March 17, 1990, That's What Friends Are For: Arista Records 15th Anniversary Concert, an AIDS benefit held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. One month later, CBS aired a two-hour version of the concert on television. The celebrity guests and Arista label performers were: Air Supply, Lauren Bacall, Burt Bacharach, Eric Carmen, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Clive Davis, Taylor Dayne, Michael Douglas, Expose, Whoopi Goldberg, Melanie Griffith, Hall & Oates, Jennifer Holliday, Whitney Houston, Alan Jackson, Kenny G, Melissa Manchester, Barry Manilow, Jeffrey Osborne, Carly Simon, Patti Smith, Lisa Stansfield, The Four Tops, Milli Vanilli and Dionne Warwick. "That's What Friends Are For" was the finale song sung by Warwick and cousin Houston before being joined on the stage by the other guests of the event. Over $2.5 million was raised that night for the Arista Foundation which gave the proceeds to various AIDS organizations.
The Dionne and Friends version of the song won the performers the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Bacharach and Bayer Sager.
This song was also performed together live by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, and Luther Vandross. A video of this live performance is available on the internet, on some file-sharing sites.
Other recordings are Shirley Bassey (1991), Helen Reddy (for The Burt Bacharach Album: Broadway Sings the Best of Burt Bacharach in 1998).
[edit] References
- ^ That's What Friends Are Here For: All Over Town, Stars Turn Out to Raise Funds for AIDS Education, accessed December 14, 2006
- ^ Can't buy me love, accessed November 16, 2006
| Preceded by "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single January 18, 1986 |
Succeeded by "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston |
