"Islands in the Stream" | ||||
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Single by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton | ||||
from the album Eyes That See in the Dark | ||||
B-side |
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Released | August 15, 1983 | |||
Recorded | May 1983 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Soft rock [1] | |||
Length | 4:08 | |||
Label | RCA Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Gibb-Galuten-Richardson | |||
Kenny Rogers singles chronology | ||||
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Dolly Parton singles chronology | ||||
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"Islands in the Stream" is a song written by the Bee Gees and recorded by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It was released in August 1983 as the first single from Rogers's fifteenth studio album Eyes That See in the Dark . The Bee Gees released a live version in 1998 and a studio version in 2001.
The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, giving both Rogers and Parton their second pop number-one hit (after Rogers's "Lady" in 1980 and Parton's "9 to 5" in 1981). It also topped the Country and Adult Contemporary charts. In 2005 the song topped Country Music Television's poll of the best country duets of all time; Parton and Rogers reunited to perform the song on a CMT special. As of May 2023, it has been triple certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for three million certified units. [2]
Rogers and Parton went on to record a Christmas album together and had an additional hit with their 1985 duet "Real Love".
Named after an Ernest Hemingway novel, the song was originally written for Diana Ross in an R&B style but later reworked for the duet by Rogers and Parton. [3] [4]
It has been claimed that the song was also intended for Marvin Gaye. This is attributed to a 2001 Good Morning America interview with the Bee Gees. When Barry Gibb said the song was written for Ross, Robin Gibb interrupted and said, "No, we wrote it for Marvin Gaye ... We sent it to him but he was dead so it was a bit difficult for him to sing it." [5] [6] Gaye actually died in 1984, a year after the recording. [7] Separately, Robin Gibb has said the song was stylistically written "... as a Tamla kind of soul song in a Marvin Gaye type feel", though not asserting it was for Gaye. [8] In other interviews, Barry Gibb has always maintained that Ross was the original artist for the song with no mention of Gaye. [4] [9]
For licensing reasons, the song was not included on the digital release of Eyes That See in the Dark from Capitol Records Nashville. Sony Music, the current owner of RCA Records, protected copyrights in the recording, which is digitally available only in various compilations from Sony Music, especially those of Dolly Parton.
The song is sung in moderate 4
4 time, with Rogers and Parton alternating lead vocals. Their version is in C major when Rogers sings lead, but changes to A-flat major when Parton takes over the lead. [10]
Cash Box said that "the sound is simply gorgeous, as is the melody, as are the voices." [11]
In 2024, Rolling Stone ranked the song at #104 on its 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time ranking. [12]
The song knocked Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" out of No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, also topping the Country and Adult Contemporary listings. In December of that year, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over two million physical copies in the US. [2] After becoming available for digital download, it had sold a further 834,000 digital copies in the US, as of January 2019 [update] . [13]
In Australia, the song was number one for one week in December 1983 and became one of the highest selling singles of 1984.
The song reached a peak of No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart in 1983. As of July 2014 [update] , it had also sold 245,577 digital copies in the UK. [14] As of 2017 [update] , it had racked up 287,200 downloads and 4.83 million streams in the UK. [15]
In April 2008, South Bend, Indiana, radio station WZOW played the song continuously for several days on end, [16] a stunt drawing attention to the station's format change from alternative rock to adult contemporary.
The song was also used as a karaoke song in two episodes of the second season of ABC's The Good Doctor , "Islands Part One" and "Tough Titmouse".[ citation needed ]
The song appeared in the 2023 Netflix documentary miniseries Beckham, showing David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham dancing to it.[ citation needed ]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
All-time charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA) [39] | Platinum | 70,000‡ |
Canada (Music Canada) [40] | 3× Platinum | 240,000‡ |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [41] | Platinum | 90,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [42] | 2× Platinum | 1,200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [43] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000‡ |
Streaming | ||
Sweden (GLF) [44] | Platinum | 8,000,000† |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Islands in the Stream" | |
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Song by Bee Gees | |
from the album Their Greatest Hits: The Record | |
Released | 20 November 2001 |
Recorded | 2001 |
Genre | Rhythm and blues |
Length | 4:23 |
Label | Polydor |
Songwriter(s) | |
Producer(s) |
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The Bee Gees performed their version live at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on 14 November 1997, which was released a year later on One Night Only , with solo vocal by Barry Gibb. A studio version was recorded for their 2001 retrospective Their Greatest Hits: The Record , which has since featured on the 2004 Number Ones and on the 2010 Mythology box set. [48] The chorus of Pras's 1998 hit "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)", which in turn is a reworking of the original Rogers and Parton release, replaces the final chorus in the studio recording. The live version of the song appears on their Love Songs compilation.
with
"(Barry) Islands in the Stream" | ||||
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Single by Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon featuring Tom Jones and Robin Gibb | ||||
from the album Islands in the Stream | ||||
Released | March 8, 2009 | |||
Genre | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Hugh Padgham | |||
Robin Gibb singles chronology | ||||
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On March 8, 2009, Welsh celebrities Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon, in character as Vanessa Jenkins and Bryn West from the hit BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey , released a version of the song as a single for Comic Relief. Sir Tom Jones also features on the song, performing the final verse and chorus, whilst Robin Gibb appears on the single as a backing vocalist.
Re-titled "(Barry) Islands in the Stream", in reference to the Barry Island setting of Gavin & Stacey, [49] it entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on March 15, 2009. This meant the Gibb Brothers had achieved number one songs in five successive decades, the first songwriters to achieve this feat. It also made Tom Jones, at the age of 68, the oldest person to have a UK number one song, until the record was taken in 2020 by Captain Tom Moore for his involvement in "You'll Never Walk Alone" at the age of 99. [50]
The video was filmed in Barry Island, Las Vegas and the Nevada desert, with both Gibb and Jones appearing in the video alongside Jones and Brydon. Nigel Lythgoe also makes a cameo appearance as a talent competition judge.
Chart (2009) | Peak position |
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Europe (European Hot 100) [51] | 11 |
Scotland (OCC) [52] | 1 |
UK Singles (OCC) [53] | 1 |
Chart (2009) | Position |
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UK Singles (OCC) [54] | 108 |
The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s.
Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Along with his younger twin brothers, Robin and Maurice, he rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popular music. Gibb is well known for his wide vocal range including a far-reaching high-pitched falsetto. Gibb's career has spanned over 60 years.
Kenny Rogers was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time.
"Night Fever" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees. It first appeared on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever on RSO Records. Producer Robert Stigwood wanted to call the film Saturday Night, but singer Robin Gibb expressed hesitation at the title. Stigwood liked the title Night Fever but was wary of marketing a movie with that name. The song bounded up the Billboard charts while the Bee Gees’ two previous hits from Saturday Night Fever soundtrack were still in the top ten. The record debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart at #76, then leaped up 44 positions to #32. It then moved: 32–17–8–5–2–1. It remained at #1 for eight weeks, and ultimately spent 13 weeks in the top 10. For the first five weeks that "Night Fever" was at #1, "Stayin' Alive" was at #2. Also, for one week in March, Bee Gees related songs held five of the top positions on the Hot 100 chart, and four of the top five positions, with "Night Fever" at the top of the list. The B-side of "Night Fever" was a live version of "Down the Road" taken from the Bee Gees 1977 album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live.
"But You Know I Love You" is a song written by Mike Settle, which was a 1969 pop hit for Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, a group that included Settle and Kenny Rogers. The song also became a major country hit by Bill Anderson in 1969. In 1981, a cover version of "But You Know I Love You" by singer Dolly Parton topped the country singles charts.
"Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" is a song by American rapper Pras, featuring rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard and R&B singer Mýa. Produced by Pras and Wyclef Jean, with co-production from Jerry 'Wonda" Duplessis and Che Pope, it interpolates Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's 1983 single "Islands in the Stream", as written by the Bee Gees, and samples "Get Up, Get into It, Get Involved" by James Brown. Also featured on the soundtrack for the 1998 film Bulworth, the song was released as Pras' debut solo single and the second from his debut solo album Ghetto Supastar on June 6, 1998.
"Too Much Heaven" is a song by the Bee Gees, which was the band's contribution to the "Music for UNICEF" fund. They performed it at the Music for UNICEF Concert on 9 January 1979. The song later found its way to the group's thirteenth original album, Spirits Having Flown. It hit No. 1 in both the US and Canada. In the United States, the song was the first single out of three from the album to interrupt a song's stay at #1. "Too Much Heaven" knocked "Le Freak" off the top spot for two weeks before "Le Freak" returned to #1 again. "Too Much Heaven" also rose to the top three in the UK. In the US, it would become the fourth of six consecutive No. 1s, equalling the record set by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles for the most consecutive No. 1 songs. The six Bee Gee songs are "How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive", "Night Fever", "Too Much Heaven", "Tragedy" and "Love You Inside Out". The songs spanned the years of 1977, 1978 and 1979.
"Words" is a song by the Bee Gees, written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The song reached No. 1 in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
Their Greatest Hits: The Record is the career retrospective greatest hits album by the Bee Gees, released on UTV Records and Polydor in November 2001 as HDCD. The album includes 40 tracks spanning over 35 years of music. Four of the songs were new recordings of classic Gibb compositions originally recorded by other artists, including "Emotion", "Heartbreaker", "Islands in the Stream", and "Immortality". It also features the Barry Gibb duet with Barbra Streisand, "Guilty", which originally appeared on Streisand's 1980 album of the same name. It is currently out of print and has been supplanted by another compilation, The Ultimate Bee Gees.
Once Upon a Christmas is a collaborative studio album by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It was released on October 29, 1984, by RCA Records. The album was produced by Rogers with David Foster. It was Rogers' second Christmas album, following 1981's Christmas, and Parton's first. The album's release was accompanied by a CBS television special, Kenny & Dolly: A Christmas to Remember. The album was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA in 1989.
Albhy Galuten is an American technology executive and futurist, Grammy Award-winning record producer, composer, musician, orchestrator and conductor. He has numerous inventions and has produced 18 number 1 singles with songs and albums selling over 100,000,000 copies. He has won two Grammy Awards, a Dramalogue award, and a BMI Citation of Achievement.
"Real Love" is a song written by David Malloy, Richard "Spady" Brannon and Randy McCormick, and recorded as a duet by American entertainers Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers that topped the U.S. country singles charts in August 1985. It was released in April 1985 the second single and title track from Parton's Real Love album. Released after the top-ten success of "Don't Call It Love", the song became Parton and Rogers' second country chart-topper as a duet act. However, "Real Love" did not fare as well on the pop singles charts as 1983's "Islands in the Stream" had done, stalling at number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 13 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
"Don't Forget to Remember" also called "Don't Forget to Remember Me" is a country ballad recorded by the Bee Gees, from the album Cucumber Castle. The song was written by Barry and Maurice Gibb. It was produced by the band with Robert Stigwood.
Eyes That See in the Dark is the fifteenth studio album by American country singer Kenny Rogers, released by RCA Records in August 1983.
"To Love Somebody" is a song written by Barry and Robin Gibb. Produced by Robert Stigwood, it was the second single released by the Bee Gees from their international debut album, Bee Gees 1st, in 1967. The single reached No. 17 in the United States and No. 41 in the United Kingdom. The song's B-side was "Close Another Door". The single was reissued in 1980 on RSO Records with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" as its flipside. The song ranked at number 94 on NME magazine's "100 Best Tracks of the Sixties". It was a minor hit in the UK and France. It reached the top 20 in the US. It reached the top 10 in Canada.
"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.
"Buried Treasure" is a song written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released as the B-side of "This Woman" in January 1984 as the third single from the album Eyes That See in the Dark. The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and No. 2 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.
"Eyes That See in the Dark" is a song written by Barry and Maurice Gibb in 1982. It was recorded by American singer Kenny Rogers for his 1983 album of the same name. It reached #30 on the US Country chart, #4 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, #61 in the United Kingdom and #79 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Gibb-Galuten-Richardson were a British-American record producing team, consisting of Bee Gees founding member and British singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, American musician and songwriter Albhy Galuten and American sound engineer Karl Richardson. They produced albums and singles for Andy Gibb, Samantha Sang, Frankie Valli, Teri DeSario, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Diana Ross.
Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1 is the third solo album by British singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, which was released on 8 January 2021 by Capitol Records in America and EMI Records internationally. The album features re-imaginings of songs written by the Bee Gees with country music singers. The album's title is taken from a lyric in the song "Butterfly".