I Honestly Love You
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| "I Honestly Love You" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Olivia Newton-John | ||
| from the album Long Live Love (UK) If You Love Me, Let Me Know (U.S.) |
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| B-side(s) | "Get You In The Mood" (U.S.) "Home Ain't Home Anymore" (UK) |
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| Released | 1974 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | 1973 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 3:40 | |
| Label | MCA | |
| Writer(s) | Jeff Barry, Peter Allen | |
| Producer(s) | John Farrar | |
| Chart positions | ||
| Olivia Newton-John singles chronology | ||
| If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) |
I Honestly Love You (1974) |
Have You Never Been Mellow (1975) |
"I Honestly Love You" was a worldwide pop hit single for Olivia Newton-John in 1974. The song was Newton-John's first number-one single in the United States and Canada, thus cementing her as a household name in North America. Released on the Long Live Love album in the United Kingdom, it was eventually released on the album If You Love Me, Let Me Know in the United States.
The song topped the charts in America on October 5 and went on to sell over two million copies, being certified Platinum. It also reached number one (three weeks) on the Adult Contemporary charts and number six on the Country charts, and won Grammy Awards for Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year. The song's success also helped propel its parent album, If You Love Me, Let Me Know, to number one; the title song was released as a single prior to "I Honestly Love You" and was also a top-five multi-format (Pop - No. 5, Adult Contemporary - No. 2, and Country - No. 2) hit. By contrast, the single failed to reach the top-twenty in the UK, although it did re-chart there in 1983 when re-released to promote a Newton-John greatest hits album.
Newton-John re-released the original hit version of the song in 1977, backed with "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from her then-current album Making a Good Thing Better, and it reached number forty-eight Pop (outperforming the only single from Making A Good Thing Better, the title song, which stalled at number eighty-seven). The song also recharted AC at No. 49. In 1998, she released a new version of "I Honestly Love You" from her album Back With a Heart, which featured Babyface on background vocals and reached number sixty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100, her first U.S. chart single in six years. The 1998 version also charted AC (No. 18) and Country Sales (No. 16).
"I Honestly Love You" was written by Jeff Barry and Australian composer Peter Allen (who died in 1992), and was also featured in The Boy From Oz, the hit Broadway musical about the life of Allen starring Hugh Jackman.
The song was briefly mentioned in the 2001 film The Wedding Planner, which starred Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey. Lopez's character Mary mentions that any couple who chooses the song for their wedding song is doomed to divorce in under a year.
| Preceded by "Rock Me Gently" by Andy Kim |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single October 5, 1974 |
Succeeded by "Nothing From Nothing" by Billy Preston |
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