The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)

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"The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)" is a country-pop song written by Otha Young (a.k.a. Robert O. Young). Young is the long-time musical partner of Grammy-winning vocalist Juice Newton and wrote the song for her in the mid-'70s. The song was originally recorded and released in 1975 on Newton's debut "Juice Newton and Silver Spur," (RCA) Silver Spur being the backup band, which consisted of Otha Young, Tom Keeley and whomever played with them at the time. The song was released as a single the same year and went nowhere on the charts.

Eventually, as Juice Newton's career took off and she started having hit pop and country records (her first hit being on the pop charts in 1978 in the form of "It's A Heartache" -- before Bonnie Tyler's version was released a week later and eclipsed Newton's on the charts.), she re-recorded the song on her 1981 album "Juice," which was to be Newton's third solo album and featured her three biggest pop hits: The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)" "Angel of the Morning" and Queen of Hearts."

While "The Sweetest Thing" is often the least-recalled of the three songs, it was arguably the biggest hit at the time. The song sold more than 400,000 copies in the U.S. and reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, #1 on the Billboard Country chart, and #7 on the Hot 100. The song stayed on the charts longer than any of Newton's 20 Top-40 hits, despite a dull, primative video for the song. At the end of 1982, the tune was among the Top 40 songs of the year on the Hot 100.

"The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)" did, of course, become a much-loved part of Newton's live concerts, and the song would also show up in even newer recorded versions throughout Newton's career -- starting in 1995, reappearing in 1998, 1999, 2003 and right up to 2006, being featured in the eventual release of "American Girl Volume II" (a new edition of Newton's 1999 "American Girl" album).

Although Newton would be nominated for five "Best Female Vocalist" Grammy awards during the 1980s, she was not nominated for this song, even though fans and critics have found it to be among Juice Newton's finest records.

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