If (Bread song)

"If" is a song written by American singer-songwriter David Gates in 1971. Originally popularized by his group Bread, the song charted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 when released as a single in 1971. The song also spent three weeks at #1 on the adult contemporary chart. It was quickly covered by other singers (including Frank Sinatra, Jack Jones, Perry Como , Telly Savalas and group Westlife). The Telly Savalas version reached number one on the UK singles chart for two weeks in March 1975, and has the shortest title of any song to reach number one. Fact|date=February 2007

To confuse matters, in 1951 Como had a hit with a different song called "If". Many radio stations play Como's recording of the Gates' song and announce it as being his 1951 hit. This same mistake is made on the series of CDs released by the Disky label in the late 1990s entitled 'Millennium', where the David Gates song is included in the album 40 Hits: 1950-54. Fact|date=February 2007

"If" has been a perennial favorite at weddings (for example, as a first-dance song) ever since it was released. [http://weddings.about.com/od/bridesandgrooms/a/firstdancesongs.htm Weddings: First Dance Songs] , About.com.] It was also recorded, as an album track, by Scott Walker in his early 1970s MOR period.

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