Songoftheday 1/25/19 - I don't know why you're not fair, I give you my love but you don't care...
from the album Haddaway (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #11 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 19
Today's song of the day comes from dance-pop singer (Nestor) Haddaway, who was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, and moved to America as a child. After reaching 21, Haddaway moved to Germany, which is where his musical career took off. In the beginning of 1993, he released his debut single "What Is Love" in Europe, where it became a huge hit, going to #1 in a few countries. On that success, he was signed to Arista Records for release in the United States, where the bouncy house music track written by Dee Dee Halligan and Junior Torello gained favor, and set a blueprint (originally taken from "Rhythm Is A Dancer") that would be followed by a mass of Eurodance singles to hit America soon...
"What Is Love" became Haddaway's first and only top-40 pop hit in the U.S., coming one notch from reaching the top ten in October of 1993. The remixes of the song helped it rise to #9 on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, although surprisingly the track never even made a dent on the American R&B charts. Internationally, where Haddaway first had success, the single topped the charts in France (5 weeks), Italy (4 weeks), Spain (4 weeks), Switzerland (5 weeks), Austria (nine weeks), The Netherlands (6 weeks), Belgium (6 weeks), Ireland (3 weeks), Norway (8 weeks), and Portugal, Denmark, and Finland (1 week). It also spent ten weeks at #2 in Germany, three weeks at that rank in Sweden, and two at the runner-up spot in the UK. The song also made the top 20 in Australia (#12) and Canada (#17).
Haddaway's second single, "Life", was written by the same team of Halligan and Torello, and did pretty respectably internationally, taking a week at #1 in Sweden, Spain, and Finland, and hit the top five in Germany (#2), Austria (#2), Switzerland (#2), Denmark (#2), Ireland (#3), The Netherlands (#3), Norway (#3), Belgium (#3), Iceland (#4) and France (#5). In the UK, "Life" peaked at #6, while in Canada, it stopped at #15, and in the U.S. it just missed the top-40 at #41, though it was an even bigger club hit at #5. Two more big international singles were released from his debut, with both "I Miss You" and "Rock My Heart" reaching #9 in Britain.
In 1995, Haddaway returned with his sophomore effort, The Drive, with the same production team of Halligan and Torello. The lead single, "Fly Away", spent a week at #1 in Finland, and made the top ten in Italy (#7), Denmark (#9), Switzerland (#9), and the Netherlands (#10), and got to #20 in the UK, but didn't make a scratch on any American chart. His third album, Let's Do It Now, even shed his European base, only making the top-40 in Austria in 1998 with "What About Me" (#24 Austria). However, that same year, his original song made a huge comeback into the world's consciousness, appearing in the Saturday Night Live affiliated movie A Night At The Roxbury, where stars Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan did a "meme-able" head bob to the song in the film. In 2002, from his Love Makes album the ballad "Love Makes" became a minor hit in Germany.
Haddaway parlayed his "one hit wonder" status in the States into a couple of European retro gigs, with his stint on Baby Hit Me One More Time giving him enough exposure for him to have a minor hit in Germany with the original "Spaceman" (#60 Germany). He's also charted two more times with mixes of "What Is Love"...
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's Haddaway appearing on German television to promote the single...
Next up is one of the remixes done that helped the track hit #9 on the dance chart...
And back to Haddaway for another TV show in Brazil...
In 2003, the "Reloaded" version of the song was released, and went to #51 in Germany and #49 in Austria...
Six years later, remixer Klaas finally hooked up with Haddaway with new remixes of the track, which went to #5 in France, #37 in Austria, and #60 in Germany...
In 2010, rappers Eminem and Lil' Wayne collaborated on a single interpolated on a sample of "What Is Love". The result, "No Love", peaked at #23 in American and made the top 40 all over Europe...
That same year, singer/songwriter Diane Birch put a stunning slow take on the song...
There was a cover of "What Is Love" done by Belgian DJ Lost Frequencies in 2016, which featured vocals from Jaymes Young. This version went to #1 in the Flanders section of Belgium, hit #20 in Austria, and peaked at #24 in Germany...
And finally, back to Haddaway live in 2016...
Up tomorrow: The voice of a new Britain is romantically despondent.
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