- Too Much Heaven
Infobox Single
Name = Too Much Heaven
Artist = The Bee Gees
from Album =Spirits Having Flown
Released =October 24 ,1978 (UK)November 21 ,1978
(US,Canada )
Format =vinyl record (7" 45 RPM)
Recorded =Criteria Studios ,Miami, Florida ,
June — July1978
Genre = Pop
Length = 4 min 56 s
Label = RSO
Producer =Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Albhy Galuten, and Karl Richardson
Chart position =
Reviews =
*"All Music Guide " [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:68qag4s9tv6z link]
Last single = "Night Fever"
(1978 )
This single = "Too Much Heaven"
(1978 )
Next single = "Tragedy"
(1979 )
"Too Much Heaven" is a song by theBee Gees , which was the band's contribution to the "Music for UNICEF" fund. They performed it at theMusic for UNICEF Concert onJanuary 9 ,1979 . The song later found its way to the group's thirteenth original album, "Spirits Having Flown ". In theUnited States andCanada , it became the latest in a long line of chart-toppers, and rose to the top three in theUnited Kingdom , as well. It is also notable for featuring the Chicago horn section (James Pankow ,Walt Parazaider andLee Loughnane ).UNICEF plan
In the summer of
1978 , the Gibb brothers announced their latest project at a news conference at theUnited Nations inNew York City . All of the publishing royalties on their next single would go into UNICEF, to celebrate theInternational Year of the Child , which was designated to be1979 . The song earned over $7 million dollars in publishing royalties. Then-United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralded the move as "an outstanding and generous initiative."The Bee Gees were later invited to the
White House , where PresidentJimmy Carter thanked the group for their donation. At the ceremony, the brothers presented Carter with one of their black satin tourjacket s. Carter remarked that he was "not a disco fan" but knew enough about their music because his daughter Amy was a big fan.Release
"Too Much Heaven" was recorded nine months after "
Night Fever ". At the time, this had been the longest gap in The Bee Gees' distribution of singles since 1975.The single "Too Much Heaven" was released in the late autumn of
1978 (it had originally been intended for use in theJohn Travolta movie "Moment By Moment", but was pulled before the film's release reportedly because Barry Gibb thought the movie was awful when he was shown a rough cut.), and started a slow ascent up the music charts. In the first week of1979 , preceding theMusic for UNICEF Concert , the single first topped the charts in both the United States and Canada. In the United Kingdom, the single peaked at number three late in 1978. A slowballad that was unlike the previous two singles off the "Saturday Night Fever " soundtrack, Barry Gibb noted that the group wanted to "move in an R&B direction, still maintaining our lyric power, and our melody power as well."US5
German boy band
US5 are releasing Too Much Heaven in 2007 as a duet with Robin Gibb. It will be from their as yet un-named new album. Too Much Heaven will be their first cover version and their first new single with new member Vincent.Trivia
*Norwegian pop duo M2M used the chorus from "Too Much Heaven" in the chorus of their own song "Our Song" - "Nobody gets too much heaven no more / It's much harder to come by/ I'm waiting in line / Nobody gets too much love anymore / It's as high as a mountain / And harder to climb". The song can be found on their debut album "
Shades of Purple ".ee also
*
Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1979 (USA) References
* [http://www.superseventies.com/1979_9singles.html Too Much Heaven info at SuperSeventies]
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