Songoftheday 5/23/20 - Feels like I'm standing in a timeless dream of light mists of pale amber rose...
from the album Now In A Minute (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (nine weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 35
Today's song of the day comes from Welsh pop singer/songwriter Donna Lewis, who grew up in a musical family before starting out on a career of her own. Signing with Atlantic Records, Lewis released her debut single "I Love You Always Forever" in the spring of 1996. Written by the singer, who also co-produced the track with Kevin Killen, the song was a simple and breathy exclamation of love that was the counterpoint opposite of the biggest record at that time, the "Macarena". It became her first and by far biggest success, internationally...
"I Love You Always Forever" spent a hefty nine weeks in the runner-up position on the American pop chart in August of 1996, kept from the top by that juggernaut, "Macarena". The song did manage to go to #1 on Billboard magazine's Adult Top-40 radio format chart for eight weeks, since that list only counted airplay; it also spent a week at #2 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") format chart. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in Australia (#2), Ireland (#3), Austria (#3), Norway (#3), the UK (#5), France (#5), Switzerland (#6), Czech Republic (#6), Germany (#7), New Zealand (#9), Denmark (#10), Hungary (#10), and Belgium (#10W/#12F). The Now In A Minute album made the top-40 in sales at #31, selling over a million copies. However, her next single, "Without Love", stopped right under the top-40 at #41, stopping whatever momentum she had (to be real, it was still being overshadowed by the lingering popularity of "ILYAF"). The song did made the Adult Top-40 list at #36, and did pretty well in Canada at #12, and even notched the British top-40 at #39. None of the other singles from the set caught on anywhere either.
In 1997, Donna Lewis was hired on to sing on the duet theme song to the Disney animated movie Anastacia with Richard Marx, "At The Beginning". While the track was a big hit on "easy listening" radio, spending 6 weeks at #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart, it stalled under the pop top-40 at #45 (even the soundtrack from powerhouse Disney studios stopped at #41 on the sales chart). Lewis returned the following year with her second album Blue Planet. While the lead single "I Could Be The One" was ignored in the States, the song was a top ten success in Austria at #9, while it was a minor hit in Germany (#69) and the UK (#99). The second release from the set though, "Love Him", became Lewis' sole dance hit, going all the way to #1 for a week on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart.
Dropped by Atlantic, Donna has since then released three studio albums independently, most recently Brand New Day in 2015.
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Here's Lewis performing the song live in concert in Malaysia at the Commonwealth Games...
In 2016, Australia singer Betty Who topped the American dance chart with a cover of "I Love You Always Forever". She also made the top ten in her home country at #6...
And lastly, here's Donna at home during the quarantine with a piano version of the song...
Up tomorrow: Reggae hitmaker sings about a certain female.
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