In 1973, Anne Murray’s “Danny’s Song” became one of the most successful hits for the Canadian country-pop star.
The song made it to the Top 10 on three of the biggest Billboard Charts. In addition to peaking at No. 10 on the country chart, it also reached No. 7 on the pop chart while reaching No. 1 on the easy listening chart – where it spent two remarkable weeks.
And more than its commercial success, it was also critically acclaimed – earning Best Female Pop Vocal Performance nomination during the 1974 Grammy Awards.
Although it was Anne Murray who made it famous, “Danny’s Song” was actually first recorded by singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins in 1970 with a group of studio musicians called Gator Creek. It was released as a single, but unfortunately, it did not make it to the charts.
That same year, Loggins worked together with Jimmy Messina as the American rock-pop duo Loggins and Messina, and released “Danny’s Song” as a single off their 1971 album Sittin’ In. But despite receiving a significant amount of radio airplay, Loggins’ version of the song still went nowhere.
Kenny Loggins penned the romantic ballad as a gift for his older brother Danny Loggins to mark the birth of Danny’s first son Colin. Most of the lyrics came from a letter Kenny received from Danny, who was planning to marry Colin’s mother and was in the middle of moving his new family to California. Though the young couple had no money, the two had plenty of hopes and dreams.
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Murray has since expressed her love for the original version, saying that the song took on a deeper meaning after giving birth to her first child. “Whenever I was singing that song, it was very meaningful,” she said.
In 2007, over three decades after releasing “Danny’s Song” as one of Anne Murray Songs, she recorded a new version as a duet with Martina McBride for her album Duets: Friends & Legends.
Make sure to listen to “Danny’s Song” by Anne Murray in the video below.
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