Move Closer

"Move Closer"
Single by Phyllis Nelson
Released	February 9, 1985
Recorded	1984
Genre	Pop
Length	5:54 (album version) 4:35 (single re-recording) 4:01 (radio version)
Label	Carrere Records
Writer(s)	Phyllis Nelson
Phyllis Nelson singles chronology
Move Closer I Like You

Move Closer is a song by Phyllis Nelson, which reached the #1 spot in United Kingdom during 1985.

History

Phyllis Nelson wrote the self-written ballad 1984, It was a complete departure from the type of music she had been recording. The lyrics of "Move Closer" were based on a long-term love affair she had with a much younger man in Philadelphia, who was struggling to start his own computer business

UK

Move Closer reached the #1 spot in United Kingdom, making her the first black woman top the UK charts with her own composition^[1]. The song was originally released in April 1984 but failed to chart, but was re-released in February 1985 after BBC Radio London started to play it, the song began to climb the charts, taking 12 weeks to climb to #1^[2]. Move Closer remained on the charts for just over five months during 1985, ended up as the seventh biggest song of 1985^[3] and the eighty-second highest selling single of the 1980s^[4]. In 1994 it was reissued and returned to the UK Singles Chart, this time reaching #34, on the back of it being featured in an anti-persperant commercial^[5].

Chart positions

The song failed to make any impact on the American charts, but did chart in Europe and New Zealand during 1984 and 1985.

Chart (1984)/(1985)	Peak position
	Singles Chart	End of year	End of decade
Austrian Singles Chart
Canadian RPM Top Singles
France Singles Chart
German Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
Italian Singles Chart
Dutch Top 40	47[6]
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	23[6]
Norwegian Singles Chart
Swedish Singles Chart
Swiss Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart	1	7	82

Covers

• Marilyn Martin, on her eponymous debut album.
• The Bluetones, as a B-side to the single "Fast Boy/Liquid Lips". It was also included on the band's 2006 compilation A Rough Outline: The Singles & B-Sides 95 - 03.
• Sir Tom Jones (1989, #49 on the UK Singles Chart^[7]).

References

1. ^ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5802
2. ^ http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=12043
3. ^ http://www.everyhit.com/chart4.html
4. ^ http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=85041
5. ^ http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=4273
6. ^ ^{a b} http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Phyllis+Nelson&titel=Move+Closer&cat=s
7. ^ http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=16375

Preceded by "We Are the World" by USA for Africa

UK number one single 4 May, 1985

Succeeded by "19" by Paul Hardcastle