After the Love Has Gone

For the Steps song, see After the Love Has Gone (Steps song).
"After the Love Has Gone"
Single by Earth, Wind & Fire
from the album I Am
B-side "Rock That"
Released July 12, 1979
Format 7", 12"
Genre R&B
Length 4:24 (Album version)
3:55 (7" version)
Label ARC/Columbia
Writer(s) David Foster, Jay Graydon, Bill Champlin
Producer(s) Maurice White
Certification Gold (RIAA)
Earth, Wind & Fire singles chronology
"Boogie Wonderland"
(1979)		 "After the Love Has Gone"
(1979)		 "In the Stone"
(1979)

"After the Love Has Gone" is a 1979 hit single for Earth, Wind & Fire, written by David Foster, Jay Graydon, and Bill Champlin for the album I Am. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for two weeks, behind The Knack's smash hit "My Sharona".[1]

Reception

"After the Love Has Gone" was nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year and won for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.[2] The song also won a Best R & B Song Grammy Award for Foster, Graydon and Champlin as its composers. "After the Love Has Gone" has been placed on Bruce Pollock's list of The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944-2000.[3]

A record of the single "After the Love Has Gone".

"After the Love Has Gone" was very successful commercially, selling over a million copies in the US, and has been certified Gold, as up until the RIAA lowered the sales levels for certified singles in 1989, a Gold single equaled 1 million units sold; it has also been certified silver in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry.[4][5]

It was used to particularly haunting effect in a famous episode of the television series WKRP in Cincinnati which paid homage to the real-life disaster of the December 3, 1979, Cincinnati concert by The Who. Venus Flytrap, the night DJ portrayed by Tim Reid, played the song after his on-air announcement that numerous youngsters were killed by a stampede of concertgoers. The song was also heard on an earlier episode, in a scene where staffer Bailey Quarters was brooding over being stood up on a planned date with morning drive DJ Johnny Fever.

Covers and samples

All three of the song's writers covered the song on the only album release by the band Airplay (a band made up of Graydon, Foster, and Tommy Funderburk) featuring Bill Champlin on chorus vocals in 1980, making it the second commercially released cover of the song, after James Last's version on his 1979 album The Non Stop Dancing Sound of the 80's.

In 1993, Jay Graydon also released a version of the song on his solo album (Airplay for the Planet) on which Bill Champlin provided the lead vocals. (As a trivia sidenote: At the time it was written, the song was originally intended for a solo album that Bill Champlin was recording [1978's (Single)], which was being produced by David Foster. The songwriters agreed to let Earth, Wind & Fire release the song first on the I Am album instead.)

David Benoit and Russ Freeman also covered the song, under their 1994 collaboration album, The Benoit/Freeman Project, with Vesta Williams and Phil Perry on vocals.

UK boyband Damage has covered the song, as well as artists such as Donny Osmond on his album Somewhere in Time and 112 on the album New York Undercover: A Night at Natalie's.[6] The song was sampled by Ryan Shaw in 2008.

Norman Brown also covered the song in his 1996 smooth jazz album Better Days Ahead.

Kurt Elling, a Chicago-based Grammy-winning jazz vocalist, covered this song on his 2011 release The Gate.

Filipino R&B singer Jay R covered the song on his 2008 album, Soul In Love.

Personnel

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1979) Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles[8] 11
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [9] 16
UK 4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 2
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 2
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks 3
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[10] 3

Year-end charts

Chart (1979) Position
Canada 85
UK [11] 58
U.S. Billboard [12] 38
U.S. Cash Box [13] 42

References

  1. ↑ Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 289. ISBN 0-87586-207-1.
  2. ↑ http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-e/earthwindfire.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/Current/S3382.htm
  4. ↑ RIAA Certification for After the Love Has Gone
  5. ↑ "Rock Music, etc., Terms". spider.georgetowncollege.edu. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
  6. ↑ After the Love Has Gone on allmusic.com
  7. ↑ "Earth, Wind & Fire - I Am". discogs.com. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
  8. ↑ https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.6841a&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=ak1ga5l67r4devbg5oqqe2nv71
  9. ↑ https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4396&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=ak1ga5l67r4devbg5oqqe2nv71
  10. ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/70s_files/19790915.html
  11. ↑ http://www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1979.shtml
  12. ↑ http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1979.htm
  13. ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/70s_files/1979YESP.html

External links

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