Love's Theme

"Love's Theme" is an instrumental piece recorded by Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra and released in 1973. It is one of the few instrumental and purely orchestral singles to reach number one on "Billboard's" Hot 100 chart in the United States, in early 1974. The piece was included on the albums "Under the Influence of Love Unlimited" (by the vocal group Love Unlimited) and "Rhapsody in White".

The recording is considered to be an influence to the disco sound, which would explode in popularity the following year. The song was also popular on the "Billboard" Adult Contemporary chart in the U.S., where the song spent two weeks at #1.

In the mid 1970s all the way to the early 1980s, ABC Sports used "Love's Theme" as the opening theme music for its live golf coverage. WPIX used it as the closing music for its then-Action News franchise from 1975 to 1977. It was used as the theme song for the syndicated television series "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" early in its run. It was featured on The Weather Channel's 'Local On The 8's' segments in 2002 and 2007. It was used as the opening theme to the soap opera "Celebridade" (2003) in Brazil. The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep used it throughout the 70s and into the 80s as the opening tune to its popular Sunday morning radio show, "Relax". The Seven Network in Australia used "Love's Theme" as the opener for it's music program "Sounds" from the mid 1970's until the show was cancelled in 1987. Enoch Light recorded a disco instrumental version of the song on his 1977 album, "Disco Disque". The song is also part of Meco's medley "Hooked On Instrumentals Part I" (from the album "Hooked On Instrumentals").

In addition, "Love's Theme" has been recorded with lyrics (penned by White's publisher, Aaron Schroeder), with vocal versions by such artists as Love Unlimited (on their 1974 album "In Heat"), Julio Iglesias, and Andy Williams. In May of 1993, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark released their single, "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)" (from their album "Liberator", released the same year) on which they sang their own lyrics over a sample of this Barry White's composition. This single reached the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, and writing credits were given to Barry White.

This song was later covered by an American smooth jazz trumpeter Rick Braun. fact|date=September 2008

References

*"The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits", 6th Edition, 1996

External links

*allmusicguide | id = 10:pi7m964o3epf | label = Rhapsody in White
*allmusicguide | id = 10:hvfpxqy5ldke | label = Under the Influence of Love Unlimited