'MOUNTAIN' CLIMBING: Michael McDonald's version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Motown) continues its upward movement on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, rising 13-12. At the same time, McDonald's previous hit from his "Motown" album returns to the chart: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a re-entry at No. 30.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" were both hits for Marvin Gaye. "Mountain" was the first single that teamed Gaye with Tammi Terrell. On the AC chart, Marvin & Tammi's "Mountain" peaked at No. 37 in 1967 and was the first Gaye song to appear on this tally. Despite a multitude of recordings, "Grapevine" has never charted on the AC tally until now, as previously reported in "Chart Beat."
While McDonald's "Mountain" has climbed higher than the Gaye & Terrell version, it still has a way to go before surpassing the No. 6 peak of Diana Ross' 1970 remake. Wherever McDonald's version ultimately peaks, it is the biggest AC hit for songwriters Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson in a long time. In 1993, Whitney Houston's remake of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman" went to No. 26. Back in 1985, Ashford and Simpson's own "Solid" stopped at No. 34.
COVER STORY: Michael McDonald's two Motown remakes aren't the only cover songs on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. There are a total of 10 remakes on this 30-position survey. Here are the 10 remakes on this week's list, along with the artists who originally recorded them:
No. 3: "Drift Away," Uncle Kracker featuring Dobie Gray (Dobie Gray)
No. 5: "You Raise Me Up," Josh Groban (Secret Garden)
No. 6: "The First Cut Is the Deepest," Sheryl Crow (Cat Stevens)
No. 8: "Big Yellow Taxi," Counting Crows featuring Vanessa Carlton (Joni Mitchell)
No. 11: "Invisible," Clay Aiken (D-Side)
No. 12: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," Michael McDonald (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell)
No. 15: "Tiny Dancer," Tim McGraw (Elton John)
No. 19: "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered," Rod Stewart & Cher (Vivienne Segal in "Pal Joey")
No. 21: "You Make Me Feel Brand New," Simply Red (The Stylistics)
No. 30: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," Michael McDonald (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles)
BARRY. JOHN BARRY: Any fan of the James Bond films should recognize the name John Barry. As the composer who scored many of the 007 features, Barry wrote some of the best-known Bond theme songs, including "Goldfinger," "Thunderball" and "Diamonds Are Forever."
Barry also composed scores for non-Bond films, such as "The Ipcress Files," "The Knack" and "Midnight Cowboy." And that's how he shows up on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart this week. Radio has jumped on the R. Kelly remix of "Baby I Love U" (Epic), a track from the Jennifer Lopez DVD/CD, "The Reel Me." The song interpolates Barry's theme from "Midnight Cowboy," a Hot 100 hit exactly 34 years ago for pianists Ferrante & Teicher.
"Baby I Love U" is Barry's first songwriting credit on the R&B chart since 1989, when Gladys Knight's Bond theme "Licence To Kill" went to No. 69. The Lopez song debuts at No. 75.
'TIME' WAITS FOR NO ONE: The "Pop Idol" franchise is as healthy in the U.K. as ever. The winner of the second season of the popular TV series, 23-year-old Glaswegian Michelle McManus, is No. 1 for the third week with her debut single, "All This Time" (S).
Now going by just her first name, Michelle has matched the chart success of the first "Pop Idol" winner. Will Young's first single, "Evergreen" / "Anything Is Possible," was No. 1 for three weeks in March 2002. Michelle will have to remain in pole position one more week to match the chart success of the biggest "Idol" single in the U.K. Young's "Evergreen" was succeeded at No. 1 by the first single from runner-up Gareth Gates. His take on "Unchained Melody" was No. 1 for four weeks.
Michelle is the fourth "Idol" contestant to have a No. 1 single in the U.K. The first season's third-place contestant, Darius, spent two weeks on top in August 2002 with "Colorblind."
Young and Gates have made return trips to the summit. Young's second single, "Light My Fire" (a remake of the Doors' song, but done in the same style as Jose Feliciano), had a two-week reign in June 2002. A month later, Gates' second single, "Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake)," was on top for three weeks.
In October 2002, a Young/Gates duet of the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road," backed with Gates' remake of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds," headed the survey for two weeks.
Young and Gates continued to have No. 1 hits in 2003. Gates' cover of Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky," recorded as a Comic Relief charity single, spent two weeks in pole position in March and Young's "Leave Right Now" was a two-week chart-topper in December.
THREE TIMES NINE: It's now a three-way tie for the longest-running No. 1 song of 2003 on Billboard's Hot 100. "In Da Club" by 50 Cent and "Baby Boy" by Beyonce Featuring Sean Paul both had nine-week reigns during the calendar year. "Hey Ya!" (Arista) by OutKast is the final No. 1 of 2003, and has carried over into 2004 as the top song on the Hot 100. This is its ninth week at the head of the class.
If "Hey Ya!" falls next week, 2003 will go down in chart history as the only year in the rock era to have three songs with nine-week reigns. Before "In Da Club," there were only six songs in the rock era that completed their visit to the top in nine weeks. The last two before the current crop were both hits in 1981: "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes and "Endless Love" by Diana Ross & Lionel Richie.
The only other nine-weekers in the rock era were "Singing the Blues" by Guy Mitchell in 1956, "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin in 1959, "The Theme from 'A Summer Place'" by Percy Faith in 1960 and that other "Hey" song to rule for nine weeks, "Hey Jude" by the Beatles in 1968.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" were both hits for Marvin Gaye. "Mountain" was the first single that teamed Gaye with Tammi Terrell. On the AC chart, Marvin & Tammi's "Mountain" peaked at No. 37 in 1967 and was the first Gaye song to appear on this tally. Despite a multitude of recordings, "Grapevine" has never charted on the AC tally until now, as previously reported in "Chart Beat."
While McDonald's "Mountain" has climbed higher than the Gaye & Terrell version, it still has a way to go before surpassing the No. 6 peak of Diana Ross' 1970 remake. Wherever McDonald's version ultimately peaks, it is the biggest AC hit for songwriters Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson in a long time. In 1993, Whitney Houston's remake of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman" went to No. 26. Back in 1985, Ashford and Simpson's own "Solid" stopped at No. 34.
COVER STORY: Michael McDonald's two Motown remakes aren't the only cover songs on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. There are a total of 10 remakes on this 30-position survey. Here are the 10 remakes on this week's list, along with the artists who originally recorded them:
No. 3: "Drift Away," Uncle Kracker featuring Dobie Gray (Dobie Gray)
No. 5: "You Raise Me Up," Josh Groban (Secret Garden)
No. 6: "The First Cut Is the Deepest," Sheryl Crow (Cat Stevens)
No. 8: "Big Yellow Taxi," Counting Crows featuring Vanessa Carlton (Joni Mitchell)
No. 11: "Invisible," Clay Aiken (D-Side)
No. 12: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," Michael McDonald (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell)
No. 15: "Tiny Dancer," Tim McGraw (Elton John)
No. 19: "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered," Rod Stewart & Cher (Vivienne Segal in "Pal Joey")
No. 21: "You Make Me Feel Brand New," Simply Red (The Stylistics)
No. 30: "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," Michael McDonald (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles)
BARRY. JOHN BARRY: Any fan of the James Bond films should recognize the name John Barry. As the composer who scored many of the 007 features, Barry wrote some of the best-known Bond theme songs, including "Goldfinger," "Thunderball" and "Diamonds Are Forever."
Barry also composed scores for non-Bond films, such as "The Ipcress Files," "The Knack" and "Midnight Cowboy." And that's how he shows up on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart this week. Radio has jumped on the R. Kelly remix of "Baby I Love U" (Epic), a track from the Jennifer Lopez DVD/CD, "The Reel Me." The song interpolates Barry's theme from "Midnight Cowboy," a Hot 100 hit exactly 34 years ago for pianists Ferrante & Teicher.
"Baby I Love U" is Barry's first songwriting credit on the R&B chart since 1989, when Gladys Knight's Bond theme "Licence To Kill" went to No. 69. The Lopez song debuts at No. 75.
'TIME' WAITS FOR NO ONE: The "Pop Idol" franchise is as healthy in the U.K. as ever. The winner of the second season of the popular TV series, 23-year-old Glaswegian Michelle McManus, is No. 1 for the third week with her debut single, "All This Time" (S).
Now going by just her first name, Michelle has matched the chart success of the first "Pop Idol" winner. Will Young's first single, "Evergreen" / "Anything Is Possible," was No. 1 for three weeks in March 2002. Michelle will have to remain in pole position one more week to match the chart success of the biggest "Idol" single in the U.K. Young's "Evergreen" was succeeded at No. 1 by the first single from runner-up Gareth Gates. His take on "Unchained Melody" was No. 1 for four weeks.
Michelle is the fourth "Idol" contestant to have a No. 1 single in the U.K. The first season's third-place contestant, Darius, spent two weeks on top in August 2002 with "Colorblind."
Young and Gates have made return trips to the summit. Young's second single, "Light My Fire" (a remake of the Doors' song, but done in the same style as Jose Feliciano), had a two-week reign in June 2002. A month later, Gates' second single, "Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake)," was on top for three weeks.
In October 2002, a Young/Gates duet of the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road," backed with Gates' remake of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds," headed the survey for two weeks.
Young and Gates continued to have No. 1 hits in 2003. Gates' cover of Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky," recorded as a Comic Relief charity single, spent two weeks in pole position in March and Young's "Leave Right Now" was a two-week chart-topper in December.
THREE TIMES NINE: It's now a three-way tie for the longest-running No. 1 song of 2003 on Billboard's Hot 100. "In Da Club" by 50 Cent and "Baby Boy" by Beyonce Featuring Sean Paul both had nine-week reigns during the calendar year. "Hey Ya!" (Arista) by OutKast is the final No. 1 of 2003, and has carried over into 2004 as the top song on the Hot 100. This is its ninth week at the head of the class.
If "Hey Ya!" falls next week, 2003 will go down in chart history as the only year in the rock era to have three songs with nine-week reigns. Before "In Da Club," there were only six songs in the rock era that completed their visit to the top in nine weeks. The last two before the current crop were both hits in 1981: "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes and "Endless Love" by Diana Ross & Lionel Richie.
The only other nine-weekers in the rock era were "Singing the Blues" by Guy Mitchell in 1956, "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin in 1959, "The Theme from 'A Summer Place'" by Percy Faith in 1960 and that other "Hey" song to rule for nine weeks, "Hey Jude" by the Beatles in 1968.
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