United We Stand (song)

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"United We Stand"
United We Stand single- Brotherhood Of Man.jpg
Single by Brotherhood of Man
from the album United We Stand
B-side "Say a Prayer"
Released23 January 1970
Genre Bubblegum pop [1]
Length2:52
Label Deram Records
Songwriter(s) Tony Hiller / Peter Simons
Producer(s) Tony Hiller
Brotherhood of Man singles chronology
"Love One Another"
(1969)
"United We Stand"
(1970)
"Where Are You Going to My Love"
(1970)

"United We Stand" is a song written by Tony Hiller and Peter Simons (writer's pseudonym for group member Johnny Goodison). It was first released in 1970 by the Brotherhood of Man in their original, pre-Eurovision line-up, consisting of Goodison, Tony Burrows, Roger Greenaway, Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie. [2] It became the band's first hit, peaking at #13 in the U.S., #9 in Canada, and #10 in the U.K. [3] The song spent 15 weeks on the charts, and is ranked as the 64th biggest U.S. hit of 1970. [4] It also reached #8 in Australia. [5]

Contents

Background

Reg Dwight, who would later become famous as Elton John, was an office boy at Mills Music, a Denmark Street music publishing house where Hiller worked. [6] Hiller knew he could sing and had him record the original demo for "United We Stand." [7]

The song was later included on an album of the same name and was followed by another hit "Where are You Going to My Love". [8]

Reception

The song has often been used to promote unity and has been used as a football chant and by LGBTQ+ rights movements. [9] [10]

Billboard gave the song a favourable review on 14 March 1970 calling it a "strong production" and (correctly) predicting it would become a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. [11]

Chart history

Cover versions

It has been recorded by over 100 different artists, [9] including:

Related Research Articles

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