"Endless Summer Nights" is a song performed by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

singer

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's first number one success as a songwriter came in 1984 with " What About Me?", which was recorded by Kenny Rogers ...

, released in January 1988 as the third single from his eponymous debut album. The song peaked at No. 2 on the U.S.

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

Adult Contemporary 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 ...

charts.

Background and composition

"Endless Summer Nights" was a track from Marx's original demo tapes. It begins with a similar intro beat style as "

It Must Have Been Love "It Must Have Been Love", originally "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)", is a song written by Per Gessle and performed by the Swedish pop duo Roxette. The power ballad became the duo's third number one hit in the Unite ...

" by

Roxette Roxette is a Swedish pop rock duo originally consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, both of whom were already established musicians in Sweden prior to the band's formation. Fredriksson had released a number of successful solo albums, ...

. The lyrics were inspired by a trip to Hawaii that Marx had taken with his then-girlfriend (and future wife),

Cynthia Rhodes Cynthia Rhodes (born November 21, 1956) is a retired American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her role as Penny in ''Dirty Dancing'' (1987) as well as Tina Tech in ''Flashdance'' (1983), Jackie in '' Staying Alive'' (1983), and off ...

. According to Marx, he wrote the song as a theme to summer love that does not last when lovers go their separate ways in the fall. In the liner notes of his 1997 ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'' album, Marx commented on the song: "Aside from replacing synthesized bass with the great

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts ...

, this recording is the demo that every record company in the business rejected in 1985 and 1986." Marx eventually signed with

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Manhattan Records Manhattan Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group and operates as a branch of Interscope Capitol Labels Group. Company history Manhattan Records was formed in 1984 by Bruce Lundvall and was later renamed EMI Manhatt ...

in 1986.

Release and reception

Released in January 1988 as the third single from his debut solo album, "Endless Summer Nights" entered the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 53, the highest debut of the week. In March and April, the song reached No. 2, where it stayed for two weeks, behind "

Man In The Mirror "Man in the Mirror" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson. It was written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. It was released in January 1988 as the fourth single from Jackson's seventh solo al ...

" by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

. The single also peaked at No. 2 on the U.S.

chart, behind "

Never Gonna Give You Up "Never Gonna Give You Up" is a pop song by English singer Rick Astley, released on 27 July 1987. The song is widely regarded as Astley's most popular, as well as his List of signature songs, signature song, and it is often played at the end o ...

" by

Rick Astley Richard Paul Astley (born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, radio DJ and podcaster. He gained fame through his association with the production trio Stock Aitken Waterman, releasing the 1987 album ''Whenever You Need Somebody'', which sol ...

. Elsewhere, the single reached No. 13 in Sweden, No. 19 in Australia, No. 42 in New Zealand, No. 50 in the United Kingdom, and No. 62 in the Netherlands. The woman in the music video is French model and actress Myrtille Blervaque (born September 1962), also known by the stage names Blair Valk and Borovnisa Blervaque; she also appeared in Eddie Money's music video for his 1988 top-10 hit "Walk On Water". She got the name Myrtille, which means "blueberry" in French, due to her being a breech baby, as she was suffocating at birth and her face turned purple-blue.

Track listing

#"Endless Summer Nights" dit(Marx) – 4:11 #"Have Mercy" ive at the Palace in L.A.(Marx) – 5:30

Credits

* Richard Marx – lead and backing vocals *

Tom Keane Thomas Lawrence Keane (September 7, 1926 – June 19, 2001) was an American professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes and West Virginia ...

– keyboards *

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record-producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitchel ...

– guitar *

Bruce Gaitsch Bruce R. Gaitsch (; born February 7, 1953) is an American guitarist, composer, and producer. He is best known for working with notable bands and musicians such as Chicago, Peter Cetera, Madonna, and Agnetha Fältskog as a session musician and son ...

– guitar *

– bass * John Keane – drums *

Paulinho da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...

– percussion *

Dave Koz David Stephen Koz (born March 27, 1963) is an American saxophonist, composer, record producer, and radio personality based in Los Angeles, California. Early life Dave Koz was born in Encino, California, to Jewish parents: Norman, a dermatologis ...

– saxophone

Chart performance

Year-end charts

Other versions

Soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

singer

Dorothy Moore Dorothy Moore (born October 13, 1946) is an American blues, gospel, and R&B singer best known for her 1976 hit song, " Misty Blue". Career Moore's parents were Mary Moore and Melvin Hendrex Senior. Her father performed under the stage name Me ...

performed a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "Endless Summer Nights" on her 1988 album ''Time Out for Me''.

Smooth jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, who accompanied Marx on his first tour, included his rendition on his eponymous 1990 debut

solo album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century ...

. Jawaiian trio Ekolu recorded a cover of the song on their 2009 album ''Ekolu Music II: Anthem''.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1980s ballads 1988 singles Rock ballads Richard Marx songs Songs written by Richard Marx 1987 songs Manhattan Records singles Songs about nights