Songoftheday 12/27/12 - I was as wrong as I could be to let you get away from me, I regret that move for as long as I'm livin'...

Sergio Mendes - "Never Gonna Let You Go"
from the album Sergio Mendes (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (four weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 16

Today's song of the day is by the king of Brazilian music, Sergio Mendes, who was born in the wealthy suburb of Rio called Niteroi in 1941, and after starting in jazz music, moved to America in the mid-60s. He put out his first album in 1960, but it wasn't until 1966 that Sergio had his breakthrough single, "Mas Que Nada" featuring vocals from new band member Lani Hall, which missed the pop top-40 but went all the way to #4 on the adult-contemporary chart. Two years later, Sergio and the band (now dubbed "Brasil '66") finally crossed over to the mainstream as his "The Look Of Love" became his first top-10 hit, peaking at #4. In a couple of months, a followup single, a remake of the Beatles' "Fool On The Hill", topped the AC chart for six weeks and became their second top-10 pop hit.

But as the 70s arrived with music changing to disco and rock, Mendes' loungetastic bossa nova sounds took a back seat. It wasn't until 15 years after their last top-40 single that a new album with a soft-rock ballad brought Mendes back to the big-time. With "Never Gonna Let You Go", written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and originally recorded by Dionne Warwick in 1982, Mendes' now-wife Hall sat this one out, with vocals handled by Leza Miller and a remarkably Michael McDonald-esque John Pizzulo...

"Never Gonna Let You Go" turned out to be Mendes' biggest pop hit, if completely eschewing his musical roots. It matched the peak of "The Look Of Love" on the pop chart, and went to #1 on the adult-contemporary chart for four weeks. It also was a top-40 hit on the R&B chart (no doubt due to the McDonald comparisons). In Britain, it just missed the top-40, topping off at #45.

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Of course, since Dionne is one of my favorite vocalists of all time, I have to include her original version from her Friends In Love album...

..and here he is live in 1984...

Fun fact: Pizzulo sang on the B-side to the Top Gun single for Berlin's "Take My Breath Away"...

Up tomorrow: Piano man is still erect.