"Night and Day" is a 1991 song by

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

written by

Roxanne Seeman Roxanne Joy Seeman is an American songwriter and lyricist. She is best known for her songs by Billie Hughes, Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, The Sisters of Mercy, The Jacksons, Jacky Cheung, and ...

and

Billie Hughes Billie Keith Hughes (April 4, 1948 – July 3, 1998) was an American singer, recording artist, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known for his successful artist career in Japan, lead vocalist of his band Lazarus and his coll ...

. It is the second single from ''

Some People's Lives ''Some People's Lives'' is the seventh studio album by American singer Bette Midler. It was released by Atlantic Records on September 4, 1990, in the United States. It contains one of her biggest hits, " From a Distance," which won songwriter Jul ...

'' produced by

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

with

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman ( ; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman, actor Billy Crystal, and director Rob Reiner. Shaiman ha ...

as associate producer. "Night and Day" was arranged by

, and

Joe Mardin Joe Mardin (born Yusuf Mardin) is a Turkish-American music producer, arranger and engineer from New York City. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate and is the son of the Turkish American producer Arif Mardin. Joe Mardin is also a conductor, so ...

Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, record executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Dou ...

was the recording and

mix engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

. "Night and Day" was also released as a single in Japan. "Night and Day" is included in A Gift of Love, the 2015 compilation album by Bette Midler focusing on her ballads. It is one of ten songs on the list of

LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the large ...

journalist James Reed in his story "On Bette Midler's birthday, 10 songs that remind us why we fell in love with her", printed December 1, 2016. It was also included on the Bette Midler collection "3 for One" released in Australia.

Overview

Seeman and Hughes recorded a demo of the song performed by

. Seeman took the song demo to New York and dropped it off with a letter for Tunc Erim, A&R at

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. A week later, Tunc Erim invited Seeman to lunch where he told her that

Ahmet Ertegun Ahmet Ertegun ( ; , ; July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and championed many lead ...

and

Doug Morris Doug Morris (born November 23, 1938) is an American record executive. He was chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Universal Music Group from 1995 to 2011, as well as Sony Music Entertainment from 2011 to 2017. He is the founder and CEO ...

liked the song and wanted to show it to

Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, best known as co-founder, lead guitarist and bassist of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis. He and keyboardist Tony Banks (musici ...

Mike + The Mechanics Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

. After the lunch, Seeman went to see Vicky Germaise in

's office at the Atlantic Recording Studios. Germaise asked Seeman if she had another copy and overnighted the demo to

who was in Los Angeles, producing

's upcoming album.

Chart performance

"Night and Day" was released to

adult contemporary radio Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...

and stayed on the ''Billboard'' AC chart for 15 weeks, peaking at number 15. The release to mainstream radio came later with "Night and Day" entering the

Contemporary Hit Radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

charts as Most Added and Significant Action. As "Night and Day" was ascending the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

broke out, focusing attention back on the first single, "

From A Distance "From a Distance" is a song by American singer-songwriter Julie Gold, initially penned in 1985. Gold's friend Christine Lavin introduced the song to Nanci Griffith, who first recorded it for her 1987 album '' Lone Star State of Mind''. A succes ...

". "Night and Day" remained on the Hot 100 for 7 weeks, peaking at 62.

Critical reception

Walta Borawski of Gay Community News, Boston clarified "'Night and Day' is not the

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

song" calling it "Roxanne Seeman and Billie Hughes' bright little tribute to the old "opposites attract" truism." A reviewer from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' praised the song comparing it to the first single as "...an equally appealing pop

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

. Midler's evocative performance works well within the song's haunting delicate keyboard arrangement." Gene Sandbloom from ''The Network Forty'' wrote, "'Night And Day' takes Bette back to a jazz vocal style, as she almost converses over the

Enya Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (born 17 May 1961; anglicised as Enya Patricia Brennan) known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. With an estimated equivalent of over 80 million albums sold worldwide, Enya is the best-selli ...

-esque background. By second listen, the chorus takes on renewed strength, making this both a mood piece and Top 40 single at the same time."

Music video

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was produced to promote the single, directed by Irish music video and commercial director

Meiert Avis Meiert Avis is an Irish music video and commercial director. Career Meiert Avis has directed videos for artists such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Avril Lavigne, Paramore, Alanis Morissette, Flyleaf, Jennifer Lopez, New Found Glory ...

Charts

Television performances

* Oprah Winfrey's "International Men's Show" * VH1's ''Behind the Music'' - Bette Midler *''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...

'' *'' Another World'' *'' Santa Barbara'' *''

Passions ''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and ...

Other versions

included a version of "Night and Day" on his ''Welcome to the Edge'' album which charted #1 in Japan. *The Japanese hit duo

Wink A wink is a facial expression made by briefly closing one eye. A wink is an informal mode of non-verbal communication usually signaling shared hidden knowledge or intent. However, it is ambiguous by itself and highly dependent upon additional c ...

released a Japanese version of "Night and Day". *Jasmine released a Mandarin version of "Night and Day". *

Cherrie Choi Cherrie Choi (; born 7 September 1972), formerly known as Cai Li, is a Hong Kong singer best known for "Zhu Fu Ni", "Jue Lian", "Zen Me", "Xiang Gui Jia De Nv Hai" and "Conversation" (collaborated with George Lam). Early life and education Ch ...

released a Cantonese version of "Night and Day".

References

External links

"Night and Day" Billie Hughes video on YouTube
{{authority control 1990 songs 1991 singles Bette Midler songs Songs written by Billie Hughes Songs written by Roxanne Seeman Song recordings produced by Arif Mardin Atlantic Records singles Billie Hughes songs Wink (duo) songs Music videos directed by Meiert Avis