Songoftheday 12/9/20 - The moment I wake up, before I put on my makeup...

 

 

"I Say A Little Prayer" - Diana King

from the albums My Best Friend's Wedding (Original Soundtrack) and Think Like A Girl (both 1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 1

 

Today's song of the day comes from reggae/pop singer Diana King, who had scored her first top-40 pop hit in America with a song from the movie Bad Boys, "Shy Guy", in the summer of 1995. Two years later, King returned with another contribution to a film, this time the romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding starring Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz. The soundtrack to the movie featured a few old pop classics but predominately was remakes of classics by new artists. King's song was "I Say A Little Prayer", written by the iconic team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Released as a single in 1967, it went to #4 on the pop chart and #8 on the R&B list...

Thirty years later, King's version, producer Andy Marvel converted the uniquely-paced song to a reggae cadence, and Diana's vocals are definitely respectable for a song made famous by two of the best singers in the pop era (we'll get to the other in a bit)...

King's take on "I Say A Little Prayer" became her second, and so far last, top-40 pop hit in September of 1997. The song also climbed to #68 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart. But its biggest success was from the transformation of the track done by the remixing team of Love To Infinity, which sent the single to #8 on the Dance Club Play list (and accounted for most of the popularity of the version). Internationally, the single topped the chart in Hungary, and reached the top-40 in Australia (#6), Norway (#12), Iceland (#16), the UK (#17), New Zealand (#21), Ireland (#27), France (#34), Like "Shy Guy" would introduce King's debut set, this song would also appear on King's second album Think Like A Girl, which arrived in September and placed at #1 on Billboard's Reggae Albums chart. 

A second single from her sophomore disco, "L-L-Lies", was a minor hit in the U.S., reaching #67 on Billboard's R&B chart and #71 on the pop Hot 100. But it did much better overseas, reaching the top-40 in France (#35) and New Zealand (#29). 

In 2002, King released her third album, Respect, which didn't get any attention in the States, but landed a top-10 hit in Belgium with the single "Summer Breezin'" (#8 BE). Since then, Diana has released one more indie album, AGirlNameKing, in 2010, and "came out" as lesbian in 2012.

 

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

 

Here's the extended Love To Infinity Classic Paradise Remix, which went top ten on the dance club play tally, and by far my favorite incarnation of her remake...

 

 Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the most heralded version of the song, done by the Queen Of Soul Aretha Franklin on her Aretha Now album. Aretha went to #10 pop and #3 R&B a year after Dionne...

That same year, Sergio Mendes went to #21 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart with an instrumental take...

Another Latin-styled act, the Baja Marimba Band, had an even bigger AC hit later that year peaking at #10...

In 1971, country singers Glenn Campbell and Anne Murray released a medley of "Say A Little Prayer" with Campbell's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" as a single, and got to #40 on the Country Singles chart and #81 on the pop Hot 100...

That dramatic call and response reading Glen and Anne did must have made it's way back to Dionne Warwick's ears, since in 1977 she and Isaac Hayes (who had successfully covered "Phoenix") recreated the duet, and went to #65 on Billboard's R&B chart...

In 1988, dance remixer/producer Bomb The Bass and singer Maureen landed a top ten hit single in Britain (#10) with their rather laid back version...

and lastly, here's Diana performing the song in concert in 2019...

Up tomorrow: R&B supergroup does a one-off that exudes compassion.