| "Afternoon Delight" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Starland Vocal Band | ||||
| from the album Starland Vocal Band | ||||
| B-side | "Starland" | |||
| Released | April 1976 | |||
| Recorded | November 1975 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:12 | |||
| Label |
| |||
| Songwriter(s) | Bill Danoff [3] | |||
| Producer(s) | Milt Okun | |||
| Starland Vocal Band singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Afternoon Delight" on YouTube | ||||
"Afternoon Delight" is a song recorded by Starland Vocal Band. It was written by band member Bill Danoff. In the US, it became a #1 single on July 10, 1976, [4] and earned a gold record.
The title came from the happy hour menu at Clyde's restaurant in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., [4] where Bill Danoff was eating with fellow bandmember Margot Chapman, while his then-wife Taffy Danoff was undergoing surgery for cervical cancer. [5] Danoff downplayed the lyrics: "I didn't want to write an all-out sex song ... I just wanted to write something that was fun and hinted at sex." [4]
Concurrent with the Starland Vocal Band version, country singer Johnny Carver's cover went Top 10 on Billboard Hot Country Singles.[ citation needed ]
In the 2004 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, the song is sung by the news crew in choir and referenced multiple times and came with a music video in the bonus disc.[ citation needed ]
It was briefly used as the intro song for the Australian 1980s Children's TV show Simon Townsend's wonderworld. It was replaced once the creator/producer of the show discovered that the song was about an afternoon sexual encounter. [6] [7]
At the 19th Grammy Awards ceremony in 1977, "Afternoon Delight" received three nominations for recordings from 1976. It won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement for Voices [8] and was also nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Song of the Year.
In 2010, Billboard named "Afternoon Delight" the 20th sexiest song of all time. [9]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
All-time charts
|
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks | 9 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 16 |
Starland Vocal Band was an American pop band, known for "Afternoon Delight", one of the biggest-selling singles of 1976.
"Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two on Billboard's US Hot 100 singles for the week ending August 28, 1971. The song was a success on its initial release and was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 18, 1971, and Platinum on April 10, 2017. The song became one of John Denver's most popular songs. It has continued to sell, with over 1.6 million digital copies sold in the United States.
"If You Leave Me Now" is a song by the American rock group Chicago, from their album Chicago X. It was written and sung by bass player Peter Cetera and released as a single on July 30, 1976. It is also the title of a Chicago compilation album released by Columbia Records in 1983.
"Good Times" is a disco soul song by American R&B band Chic from their third album Risqué (1979). It ranks 68th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and has become one of the most sampled tunes in music history, most notably in hip hop music. Originally released with "A Warm Summer Night" on the B-side, it was reissued in 2004 with "I Want Your Love" on the B-side, a version which was certified Silver in the UK.
"One Tin Soldier" is a 1960s counterculture era anti-war song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. Canadian pop group The Original Caste first recorded it in 1969 for both the TA label and its parent Bell label.
"Just the Way You Are" is a song by Billy Joel from his fifth studio album The Stranger (1977). It was released in September 1977 as the album's lead single. It became both Joel's first US Top 10 and UK Top 20 single, as well as Joel's first gold single in the US. The song also topped the Billboard Easy Listening Chart for the entire month of January 1978.
"The Way You Do the Things You Do" is a 1964 hit single by the Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers, the single was the Temptations' first charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking in the Top 20 at number eleven; it also went to number one on the Cash Box R&B chart. The song has been an American Top 40 hit in four successive decades, from the 1960s to the 1990s. A version by Hall & Oates featuring Temptation members Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1986. A cover version by British reggae band UB40 hit number six in the U.S. in 1990.
"Hard to Say I'm Sorry" is a 1982 power ballad by the group Chicago. It was written by bassist Peter Cetera, who also sang the lead vocals on the track, and producer David Foster. It was released on May 17, 1982, as the lead single from the album Chicago 16. On September 11 it reached No. 1 for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the group's second No. 1 single. It was their first top 50 hit since "No Tell Lover" in 1978 and it spent twelve weeks in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. The single was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in September of the same year. Songwriter Cetera, a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), won an ASCAP Pop Music Award for the song in the category, Most Performed Songs.
Mary Catherine "Taffy" Nivert-Danoff is an American songwriter and singer. She is best known for co-writing "Take Me Home, Country Roads", which was popularized by John Denver, and for being a member of the Starland Vocal Band.
"Evergreen" is the theme song from the 1976 film A Star Is Born. It was composed and performed by American singer, songwriter, actress and director Barbra Streisand with lyrics by Paul Williams, and arranged by Ian Freebairn-Smith. The song was released on the soundtrack album to A Star Is Born.
William Thomas Danoff is an American songwriter and singer. He is known for “Afternoon Delight", which he wrote and performed as a member of the Starland Vocal Band, and for writing multiple hits for John Denver, including "Take Me Home, Country Roads".
"Disco Lady" is a 1976 single by American singer Johnnie Taylor that went on to become his biggest hit. It spent all four weeks of April 1976 at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and six weeks atop the Billboard R&B chart in the U.S. It was also the first single to be certified platinum by the RIAA; ultimately it sold over 2.5 million copies. Billboard ranked it as the No. 3 song for 1976; Cash Box had it the year's No. 1 song
"Smokin' in the Boys Room" is a song originally recorded by Brownsville Station in 1973 on their album Yeah!. It reached number 3 in Canada and on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was later certified by the RIAA.
"Have You Never Been Mellow" is a song recorded by British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John for her 1975 fifth studio album of the same name. Written and produced by John Farrar, the song was released as the lead single from the album in January 1975.
"This Masquerade" is a song written by American singer and musician Leon Russell. It was originally recorded in 1972 by Russell for his album Carney and as a B-side for the album's hit single "Tight Rope". The song was then covered on Helen Reddy's 1972 album, I Am Woman. It was then recorded by American vocal duo, the Carpenters, for their 1973 album Now & Then and as the B-side of the Carpenters's single "Please Mr. Postman". Three years later, "This Masquerade" was recorded by American singer and guitarist George Benson, who released it on his 1976 album, Breezin'. Benson's version, featuring Jorge Dalto on piano, was released as a single and became the first big hit of his career.
"Tell It to the Rain" is a song composed by Mike Petrillo and Chubby Cifelli and popularized by The Four Seasons in 1966 and early 1967. The single reached the #10 position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
"Blue Eyes" is a song performed by English musician Elton John with music and lyrics written by John and Gary Osborne. It was released in 1982, as the UK lead single from John's 16th studio album, Jump Up! (1982). It was released as the album's second single in the US. It hit No. 8 in the UK; in the US, it spent three weeks at No. 10 on the Cash Box chart, went to No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard AC chart. John performed this song often in his concerts until 2012.
"Lonely Night (Angel Face)" is a song written by Neil Sedaka. The song was first recorded by Sedaka and appeared as a track on his 1975 studio album, The Hungry Years. The following year the song was made popular when covered by the pop music duo Captain & Tennille, who took their version to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Lowdown" is a song originally recorded in 1976 by Boz Scaggs from his album Silk Degrees. The song was co-written by Scaggs and keyboardist David Paich. Paich, along with fellow "Lowdown" session musicians bassist David Hungate and drummer Jeff Porcaro, would later go on to form the band Toto.
"Always and Forever" is an R&B song written by Rod Temperton and produced by Barry Blue. It was first recorded by the British-based multinational funk-disco band Heatwave in 1976. Released as a single on December 3, 1977, the song is included on Heatwave's debut album Too Hot to Handle (1976) and has been covered by numerous artists, becoming something of a standard.
The final product stands out as a kind of throwback to sunshiney '60s folk-pop, and to countrified early-'70s soft rock.
