Songoftheday 7/29/13 - My baby, he don't talk sweet he ain't got much to say but he loves me, loves me, loves me I know that he loves me anyway...

Deniece Williams - "Let's Hear It For The Boy"
from the albums Footloose (Original Soundtrack) (1984) and Let's Hear It For The Boy (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's Song of the Day is by R&B singer Deniece Williams, who topped the R&B chart and reached the pop top-10 in 1982 with her remake of the soul classic "It's Gonna Take A Miracle". It took another two years for her to reappear on the Hot 100, but she did it in a grand way - with a track from the biggest movie musical of the year, Footloose. The bubbly and extreme-positive "Let's Hear It For The Boy" was written by the team of Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford, the latter a screenwriter for the film itself. Produced by jazz-funk star George Duke, the song became the third top-40 single from the soundtrack after the title track by Kenny Loggins and Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For A Hero"....

"Let's Hear It For The Boy" became the second #1 hit from the movie, and Deniece's second chart-topper after her duet with Johnny Mathis in 1978, "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late". It also topped the R&B and dance charts in America, and reached #3 on the adult contemporary (easy-listening) format. It was a worldwide smash as well, reaching the top of the chart in Canada, #2 in England, Ireland, and New Zealand, and top-10 pretty much everywhere else.

This would also be Deniece's latest entry in the top-40; her follow-up single, "Next Love", petered out at #81 the same year. She would go on to still have success on R&B radio, reaching the top-10 twice in the late eighties, with "Never Say Never" going to #6 in 1987 and "I Can't Wait" hitting #8 in 1988. The latter would be her last Hot 100 hit to date, topping out at #66. However, as the 90s dawned and pop/soul-style of R&B gave way to "new jack swing", her style of music got pretty much shoved to the side (and she wasn't willing to follow that path). She transitioned into gospel music (which her work already had been deeply integrated with), and left her pop career behind.

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In 2001 the US version of Queer As Folk used a cover of "Let's Hear It For The Boy" by singer Katty B as the theme for young character Justin...

When Footloose the movie was remade in 2011, "Let's Hear It For The Boy" was performed by actress/singer Jana Kramer...

British pop singer Kate Nash also covered the song for a radio show in 2011..

...and finally, here's Deniece on TV with the song...

Up tomorrow:  One more from Footloose. Under the covers.