| Lady | |
| Cover: | Lady (Kenny Rogers song).jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Kenny Rogers |
| Album: | Greatest Hits |
| B-Side: | Sweet Music Man |
| Released: | September 29, 1980 |
| Recorded: | 1980 |
| Studio: | Concorde Recording, Los Angeles[1] |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 3:54 |
| Producer: | Lionel Richie |
| Prev Title: | Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer |
| Prev Year: | 1980 |
| Next Title: | What Are We Doin' in Love |
| Next Year: | 1981 |
"Lady" is a song written by Lionel Richie and first recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in September 1980 on the album Kenny Rogers' Greatest Hits.
It is listed at number 60 on Billboards "Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs".[4]
The song was written and produced by Lionel Richie, recorded in 1980, and ranks among Kenny Rogers's biggest hits. Rogers once told an interviewer,
The success of "Lady" also boosted Richie's career. The production work on the song was his first outside the Commodores and foreshadowed his success as a solo act during the 1980s. Rogers was also a featured vocalist on "We Are the World", co-written by Richie. Richie performed "Lady" himself on his 1998 album, Time, and he and Rogers performed the song as a duet on Richie's 2012 release Tuskegee. Richie had originally pitched this song to the Commodores and they turned it down. Then later, it was given to Rogers to record, and it became the biggest selling hit single for him as a solo artist.
When asked about his personal favorite song during an October 1986 appearance on The Phil Donahue Show, Rogers responded that "'Lady' is head and shoulders above almost all the songs in the world".[5]
Since his breakup with the First Edition, Rogers had tasted considerable success as a solo act, with nine number one entries on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart (prior to the release of "Lady"), plus several top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts.
"Lady", according to music historian Fred Bronson, would prove to be an important record for both Richie and Rogers. It became the first record of the 1980s to chart on all four of Billboards singles charts – country, Hot 100, adult contemporary and Hot Soul Singles.
It reached number one on three of those charts in late 1980. On the Hot 100, "Lady" reached the summit on 15 November and stayed at the top for a massive six-week stint (tying with Blondie's "Call Me" for the longest run of the year). On 27 December, it would be knocked out of the top spot by "(Just Like) Starting Over" by John Lennon. On the Hot Country Singles chart, it would spend a week at the summit. "Lady" also peaked at number 42 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.[6]
As a country entry, "Lady" was Rogers' 10th chart-topping hit in a career that saw him collect 20 number one songs between 1977 and 2000. On the Hot 100, it was his only solo chart-topping song, although Rogers would have a duet number one three years later (1983's "Islands in the Stream" with Dolly Parton). On the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, "Lady" was Rogers' second (of eight) songs that reached the chart's summit. Billboard ranked it at the number three song for 1981.
| Chart (1980–1981) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina[7] | 3 | |
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[8] [9] | 16 | |
| Canadian CRIA Top Singles[10] | 2 | |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 2 | |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 2 | |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 6 | |
| Ireland (IRMA) | 12 | |
| South Africa (Springbok)[11] | 3 | |
| Spain (AFYVE)[12] | 19 | |
| UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[13] | 12 | |
| US R&B (Billboard)[14] | 42 |
| Chart (1981) | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report) | 93 | |
| Canada RPM Top Singles[16] | 43 | |
| South Africa[17] | 17 | |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[18] | 3 |
