Robbed hit of the week 2/8/21 - Martina McBride and Jim Brickman's "Valentine"...

 

 

"Valentine" - Martina McBride with Jim Brickman

from the albums Picture This and Evolution (both 1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #50

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from country singer Martina McBride, a native of Kansas that started out working for country superstar Garth Brooks' tour crew, before eventually opening for him and signing with RCA Records in the early 1990s. With a powerful and emotional voice that rivals Celine Dion's, her debut single, "The Time Has Come", landed on Billboard magazine's country chart at #23 in 1992, while her first album of the same name made it onto their Country Albums chart at #49. The following year, Martina returned with her sophomore effort, The Way That I Am, the title an allusion to the lead single "My Baby Loves Me", which came a notch from topping the Country singles chart at #2. The album was her first to land on the Billboard 200 sales chart at #106, her first top-40 set on the Country Albums chart at #14, and went on to sell over a million copies. It also contained the anti-domestic abuse song "Independence Day", which missed the top ten at country at #11, but was such a beloved track that it became her first cornerstone hit, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, which Mary-Chapin Carpenter won for "Shut Up And Kiss Me" as well as a nomination for songwriter Gretchen Peters for Best Country Song, which went to "I Swear" from John Michael Montgomery. On McBride's third disco, Wild Angels, she racked up another Grammy nomination for lead single "Safe In The Arms Of Love" (which Alison Krauss took home for her remake of "Baby Now That I Found You"), while the follow-up, "Wild Angels", landed the singer her first #1 country hit in 1996.

A year later, McBride showed up as a featured singer on "new age" pianist Jim Brickman's track "Valentine", which was on his third album Picture This. Promoted to "easy listening" radio, the song wasn't released as a single, but got another airplay to spend two weeks at #3 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio chart at the start of 1997, while briefly appearing on the Country Airplay list at #53. That summer, McBride put out what would be the first single from her upcoming fourth album Evolution. "Still Holding On", a barn-burning breakup ballad duet with Clint Black, like "Independence Day" just missed the country top ten at #11, but again was loved enough to garner another Grammy nomination for Best Country Collaboration, which her old boss Garth Brooks won with his duet with future wife Trisha Yearwood on "In Another's Eyes". The second release, "Broken Wing", returned Martina to #1 on the Country Airplay chart, while landing McBride her first hit on the official pop Hot 100 list at #61. Released as a commercial single, the "B-Side" of the release was a slighty remixed version of "Valentine", which also appeared on Evolution. After the success of "Broken Wing", interest regrew for the ballad, especially going into the season of Valentine's Day. Promoted as the official third radio single from the album, "Valentine" started to appear on radio stations that passed on it the first go-around. Written by Brickman with Jack Kugell, the song seemed tailor-made for the special event that strangely was missing a current pop standard, filling a niche both for country and pop audiences. Martina gives a heartfelt and surprisingly restrained vocal delivery on the track...

"Valentine" stopped right at the halfway mark on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart in November of 1997. The song got an even bigger boost at country radio, this time climbing to #9 right in time for the Valentine's Day holiday. The Evolution album, released in August of 1997, became Martina's first top-40 placing on the Billboard 200 sales list at #24, going on to sell over three million copies. And eventually, the set would put the singer into the pop top 40. 

 

Meanwhile Brickman, who's Picture This album would become his highest-ranking record at #30 on the Billboard 200. He would appear on the Hot 100 one more time, also with a collaboration with country artists. His Christmas-themed "The Gift", from his 1997 holiday album of the same name, featured Collin Raye and Susan Ashton, went to #65 on the pop chart, while spending a month at #3 on the Adult Contemporary radio list, and hit #52 on the Country Airplay tally. He has since has a long string of successes at easy listening radio, eventually being the 4th biggest artist of the 2000s, including two #1 hits with "Simple Things" with Rebecca Lynn Howard in 2002 and "Sending You A Little Christmas" with Kristy Starling in 2004. His most recent appearance on the list, a remake of "Feliz Navidad" with Kathy Phillips, peaked at #28 in 2019. Also he released his most recent studio set Interstellar at the end of that year as well.

(7/10)

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"Valentine" appeared on the commercial single as the "B-Side" of this #1 country hit, "A Broken Wing"... (It's a 10 out of 10)

 

 

Here's Martina performing "Valentine" in concert at Farm Aid in 1998...

 

 

And lastly, with Brickman at the Gala for the President at Ford's Theatre...