"Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse" is a song written in 1973 by John Worth, a pseudonym used by John Worsley (also known as

Les Vandyke John Worsley (21 June 1931 – 6 August 2021), more widely known under the pseudonyms Les Vandyke and Johnny Worth, was an English popular music songwriter from the 1950s to the 1980s, who started his career as a singer. As "Les Vandyke", he w ...

). It was originally sung by the American

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

Jimmy Helms James D. Helms (born September 27, 1941) is an American soul singer, known as a member of Londonbeat but who also had solo hits such as " Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse". Early years Helms was born in Florida. His grandfather was a Bl ...

, and the track was

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...

by Mike Moran. The single was issued by

Cube Records Cube Records is an English record label. It was launched on 26 May 1972 by independent music publisher David Platz, and was based at his UK offices for Essex Music. History Platz had entered the arena of record production in the early 1960s, ...

in the UK. The single first charted in February 1973, and it peaked at No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart, spending ten weeks in that listing. The track is still played on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

, with three outings between August 2017 and February 2018. Between 1972 and 1975, Helms recorded prolifically for the Cube label, largely due to the success of this song. However, he did not have another solo hit in the UK, although Helms found further chart success in both the UK and US as part of

Londonbeat Londonbeat are a British dance-pop band who scored a number of pop and dance hits in the early 1990s. They currently consist of vocalists Jimmy Helms, Jimmy Chambers, and Charles Pierre. Former members include multi-instrumentalist William He ...

in 1990s.

Cover versions

The song has also been recorded by Lisa Linn, and The Gentle Rain (also in 1973).

Les McKeown Leslie Richard McKeown (12 November 195520 April 2021) was a Scottish singer. He was the lead vocalist of the pop rock band Bay City Rollers during their most successful period in the 1970s. Early life Leslie Richard McKeown was born in Broomho ...

also did a longer cover in his 1982 album, ''Heart Control''.

Other information

The song has appeared on a number of

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s including ''Heart & Soul'' (1997), ''Everlasting Love'' (1999), and Helms's own earlier collection ''Gonna Make You An Offer...'' (1975).

References

External links

YouTube
{{authority control 1973 songs 1973 singles Songs written by Les Vandyke British soul songs 1970s ballads Pop ballads