| Randy VanWarmer | |
| Background: | solo_singer |
| Birth Name: | Randall Edwin Van Warmer |
| Birth Place: | Indian Hills, Colorado, U.S. |
| Birth Date: | 30 March 1955 |
| Death Place: | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Origin: | Woodstock, New York, U.S.[1] |
| Instrument: | guitar |
| Genre: | Soft rock[2] |
| Occupation: | Musician, singer, songwriter |
| Years Active: | 1978–2004 |
| Label: | Bearsville Records |
Randy VanWarmer (also spelled Vanwarmer, Van Warmer; March 30, 1955 – January 12, 2004) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His biggest hit song was "Just When I Needed You Most". It reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1979[3] after peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100[4] and No. 1 on Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks[5] earlier that year.
He wrote several songs for The Oak Ridge Boys, including "I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes," which reached No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. The song appeared on his 1981 album Beat of Love, which also included the "Suzi Found a Weapon", which hit No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Randall VanWarmer was born in Indian Hills, Colorado, the son of Roger VanWarmer (1919–1967)[6] [7] and Betsy (née Harry; 1919–2006).[8] At 15, three years after the death of his father in an automobile accident, he moved with his mother to Cornwall, England.
In a 1989 interview with Release,[9] a now-defunct independent paper from Stanford, California, Van Warmer said that Albert Grossman, the head of Bearsville Records, would not let him do television or tour the United States, a strategy that did not prove successful.
His second album, Terraform, was dark and more alternative than his previous work. According to Release,[9] Terraform sold moderately in Japan and Australia. VanWarmer would later publicly rue his decision to turn away from ballads. He made two more records at Bearsville: Beat of Love and The Things That You Dream. Beat of Love included the single "Suzi Found a Weapon", a tribute to a Bearsville public relations rep whom VanWarmer would later marry, and which went to No. 1 in Alaska and gained a certain amount of posthumous acclaim (for example, a review by James A. Gardner in AllMusic).[10] Grossman died soon after this.
According to Release,[9] in the mid-1980s, Suzi VanWarmer mailed a song called "I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes" from Beat of Love to a friend at MCA Inc., who sent it to Ron Chancey, producer for the Oak Ridge Boys who put it on their next album. Charley Pride recorded a song of VanWarmer's, as did Michael Johnson. VanWarmer moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and the recording of his song, "I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)" by the band Alabama hit No. 1 on the country chart.
His final album was a tribute to Stephen Foster, released posthumously only in Japan. According to the CD's liner notes, VanWarmer played all the instruments on the album. The notes also indicate that he completed work on the record a few days after learning he had leukemia; he died at 48, one day before the anniversary of Foster's death.
Some of his cremated remains were sent into space in 2007 and then again in 2012 aboard the first successful private space flight to the International Space Station.[11]
VanWarmer died on January 12, 2004, at the age of 48 in Seattle. He had been suffering from leukemia for the previous year.[12] He is survived by his widow Suzi and his brothers Dave, Mark, and Ron.[13]
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Certifications | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [14] | US Country | US AC | CAN | CAN AC | UK | AUS [15] | |||||
| 1979 | "Gotta Get Out of Here" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Just When I Needed You Most" | 4 | 71 | 1 | 32 | 5 | 8 | 17 | ||||
| 1980 | "Call Me" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Whatever You Decide" | 77 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Hanging on to Heaven" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1981 | "Doesn't Matter Anymore" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "All We Have Is Tonight" | — | — | — | — | — | — | 92 | ||||
| "Suzi Found a Weapon" | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | 88 | ||||
| 1988 | "I Will Hold You" | — | 53 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Where the Rocky Mountains Touch the Morning Sun" | — | 72 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||||||||