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"Never My Love" is a pop standard written by American siblings Donald and Richard Addrisi and best known from a hit 1967 recording by The Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success was as the songwriters of "Never My Love". Recorded by dozens of notable artists in the decades since, in late 1999 the Publishing Rights Organization Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) announced it was the second most-played song on radio and television of the 20th century.^[1]

The first recording of "Never My Love" that achieved success was by The Association, an American pop-rock band from California. Their version of the song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and hit number one on the Cash Box charts in October 1967, one of the band's five top-ten hits in the late 1960s.^[2] Their third #1 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles Chart, following "Cherish" (1966) and "Windy" (1967), it was featured on the band's album Insight Out. The song also reached number one in Canada's RPM Magazine charts.

By the time The Association's record was certified Gold by the RIAA for one million copies sold as of December 1967, Billboard noted that sixteen artists had recorded the song.^[3] Their third number one single had made them a top concert act and highly in demand by the TV variety series and specials and talk shows that were a predominant format at the time, and they performed the hit on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Hollywood Palace, The Dean Martin Show, Dick Clark's American Bandstand, Hullabaloo, Shindig!, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Dick Cavett Show, The Joey Bishop Show, The Steve Allen Show, and a Carol Channing special.^[4]

Allmusic's Stewart Mason wrote of the "laid-back and dreamy" single with a "sleek and sophisticated" tune that "the dual lead vocals, by Terry Kirkman and Larry Ramos, are supported by wordless harmonies as effortlessly airy as whipped cream." Mason credited Ray Pohlman's "clever arrangement (with adding) space to the sound through juxtaposing disparate elements like the four-note bass riff that introduces the verses and the electric piano lick that ornaments the chorus, rather than jamming them on top of each other." Mason observed that it sounded "like Pohlman had been paying particular attention to Burt Bacharach's work with Dionne Warwick, a resemblance the 5th Dimension later amplified on their cover of the song."^[5]

That cover by American R&B vocal group The 5th Dimension was produced by the same man behind The Association's record, Bones Howe. Recorded live in 1971 their version reached number 12 on the Hot 100 in October of that year.^[2] The recording also hit number one on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, the group's fourth to top that chart, following "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" and "Wedding Bell Blues" (both 1969), and "One Less Bell to Answer" (1970).^[6] It also reached #45 on the Billboard R&B chart.^[6] This version also hit #9 in the Canadian charts.

Allmusic's Matthew Greenwald wrote of The 5th Dimension's single, "'Never My Love' is certainly more well-known as the huge hit from the Association in 1967. This version, a vocal solo from Marilyn McCoo, is a great vehicle for her powerful pop voice... A song that has one of the most direct, straightforward loving messages, it remains one of the most-played and performed songs of the pop era, and for good reason."^[7]

"Never My Love" was covered by the Swedish rock band Blue Swede in 1974. This version peaked at number seven on the Hot 100 and remained in the Top 40 for eight weeks, becoming the third hit version of the song.^[2] This version reached #7 in Canada.

The Addrisi Brothers recorded their own version of the song they wrote on the Buddah label in late 1977, and it peaked at number 80 on the Hot 100 and number 28 on the easy listening chart.^[6] Barry Manilow covered the song for his 1996 album Summer of '78. Other versions of the song that reached the Billboard charts in the U.S. include The Sandpebbles (#98 pop, 1968); Vern Gosdin and Janie Fricke (#9 country, 1978); and Chill Factor (#62 R&B, 1988).^[6] Other versions were recorded by popular artists as diverse as Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Vicki Carr, Percy Faith, The Four Tops, Lou Christie, Billy Crawford, Astrud Gilberto, Etta James, Steve Lawrence, Brenda Lee, The Lennon Sisters, The Lettermen, David Hasselhoff, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Donny Hathaway, Tinkerbells Fairydust, Tom Scott, Sylvia, Cal Tjader, The Ventures, Kathy Troccoli, Andy Williams and Sarah Vaughan.

In 1999 the song was recognized as the second most-played song in history, with performances of more than 7 million, according to BMI. The #2 rank on the Top 100 Songs of the Century, listing the most played songs on American radio and television, placed "Never My Love" between the #1 song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector and Cynthia Weil, and the #3 song "Yesterday" by Lennon–McCartney. BMI estimated that the song had as of 1999 received what amounted to about 40 years of continuous airplay in its 32 years.^[1]

See also [edit]

• List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1967
• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1971 (U.S.)
• List of recordings of songs Hal Blaine has played on

References [edit]