Songoftheday 5/22/16 - I never needed love like I needed you, and I never lived for nobody but I live for you...

"When I'm With You" - Sheriff
from the album Sheriff (1982)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #61 (in 1983), #1 (in 1989) (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40 (in 1988-89): 13

Today's song of the day comes from the Canadian rock band Sheriff, who came together in the Toronto area at the end of the 70s. With a strong lead singer in Freddy Curci, the group's first single, "You Remind Me", made it to #33 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, and was a top-40 hit in their homeland. The second single from the set was the "power-ballad" "When I'm With You", written by keyboardist Arnold Lanni, and featuring a note sung by Curci at the end that was said to be the longest-held note on record at the time. It was a regional hit where I lived in New Jersey, and went to #8 in their native Canada, but the song only climbed to #61 on the American pop chart in 1983 (very surprising to me, considering the feedback from the single in my neck of the woods).

Fast forward to 1989. The band had broken up after just their sole album, with Lanni and bassist Wolf Hassel going on to create the group Frozen Ghost, who had a #4 rock/#69 pop hit with "Should I See". After a couple of DJ started to play the single again (something you'd never see these days), the single was re-released, and the timing was perfect in the era of rock bands scoring hits with power-ballads, and "When I'm With You" finally got the attention it deserved...

On its second run on the chart, "When I'm With You" went all the way to #1 on the American pop chart in February of 1989. The song also spend a week at the top of Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart as well. However, it didn't bring back a Sheriff reunion; rather, Curci and Sheriff guitarist Steve DeMarchi went to form the group Alias with former members of Heart, and did return to the top-40 a couple of times, one to #2 with "More Than Words Can Say".

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And here's Sheriff performing the song live on the TV comedy show Live At The Improv in 1982...

Oh, the hair.

Up tomorrow: A frugal band gets deserted.