"Making Love Out of Nothing at All" is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...

written and composed by

Jim Steinman James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, mus ...

and first released by the British/Australian

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

duo

Air Supply Air Supply is an Australian soft rock duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975, consisting of Englishman Graham Russell (vocals, guitar) and Australian Russell Hitchcock (vocals). With record sales of 100 million worldwide, they had a suc ...

for their 1983 compilation album ''

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 ...

''. It reached number two on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for three weeks (behind " Total Eclipse of the Heart" by

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer. Known for her distinctive husky voice, Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' and its ...

, giving Steinman a consecutive peak of two songs). The song has been covered and sampled by other artists, such as Tyler in 1995 and rapper

Cuban Link Felix Delgado (born December 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Cuban Link, is a Cuban-American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx, he came to prominence upon discovery by fellow Bronx rapper Fat Joe and m ...

in the song "Letter to Pun" from the album ''Chain Reaction''.

Background and recording

The song is a reworking of the main title theme from the 1980 film '' A Small Circle of Friends'', for which Jim Steinman wrote the score. It was first recorded by Air Supply, giving them a number two hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US for three weeks. The song was subsequently released as a new track from their 1983 greatest hits album. The B-side of the single is "Late Again". They have included the song on their greatest hits and live albums, and recorded an acoustic version for their 2005 album ''The Singer and the Song''. Simultaneously, Steinman offered the song, along with " Total Eclipse of the Heart", to

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally by his stage name Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor. He was known for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. ...

for his '' Midnight at the Lost and Found'' album; however, Meat Loaf's record company refused to pay Steinman for the material so Meat Loaf ended up writing compositions for the album himself. By 1983, Air Supply had changed much of its classic musician line-up, both in the recording studio and on tour. But Steinman, known for his lavish, rock-opera-ish type productions, used

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

's E-Street Band members

Roy Bittan Roy J. Bittan (born July 2, 1949) is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synth ...

on keyboards and

Max Weinberg Max Weinberg (born April 13, 1951) is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' an ...

on drums, to musically underscore the recording with like energies.

Rick Derringer Richard Dean Zehringer (August 5, 1947 – May 26, 2025), known professionally as Rick Derringer, was an American musician, producer and songwriter. He gained success in the 1960s with his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, " Hang On Sloopy", ...

, who was previously the guitarist for

the McCoys The McCoys were a rock music, rock group formed in Fort Recovery, Ohio, United States, in 1962. They are best known for their 1965 hit single "Hang On Sloopy". Originally named Rick and the Raiders, they changed their name to "The McCoys" from ...

and

Johnny Winter John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums, live performances, and slide guitar playing from the late 1 ...

, provided the electric guitar solo.

Chart performance

The song was most successful in the United States and Canada, reaching numbers two and three, respectively. It also reached the top 30 in Ireland and New Zealand. In the United Kingdom, the song was not as successful, peaking at No. 80 on the UK Singles Chart, their fourth highest charting single there overall, after "All Out of Love" (#11), "Even the Nights Are Better" (#44) and "Goodbye" (#66).

Music video

Two versions of the music video for "Making Love Out of Nothing At All" were produced. The initial version is a loose homage to the lives of bands on tour life and the long distance relationships they go through during their concert tours. It begins with a couple driving to an airport; the man (Graham Russell) is "leaving for a tour" and tries to convince the woman (played by Graham Russell's real-life spouse, actress Jodi Varble-Russell) to join him: After the man leaves and boards the plane, a

Learjet 35 The Learjet Model 35 and Model 36 are a series of American multi-role business jets and military transport aircraft manufactured by Learjet between 1973 and 1993. When used by the United States Air Force, they carry the designation C-21A. Learj ...

, the band flies off to their destination. The remainder of the video intersperses Air Supply onstage with various scenes of the man and woman's relationship. Hitchcock and Russell leave their dressing room for the stage; as they sing with the band, the woman is shown packing to leave. Nevertheless, she changes her mind and does a

u-turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the U, letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as ...

on the

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

, and now drives to the airport. She meets Russell at the side of the stage near the end of the song and they embrace. This version was filmed entirely in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, with the concert sequences shot at the Forum and the airport scenes done at

Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport is a public airport in the Van Nuys neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. The airport is operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a branch of the Los Angeles city government, which also operates Los Angeles Internat ...

. The subsequent official version is set in 1960s New York City and involves a Marine and a young woman and the various challenges they encounter in their relationship, interspersed with scenes of the band singing the song.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Personnel

* Russell Hitchcock -

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

* Graham Russell -

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

* Sid McGinnis -

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

* Steve Buslowe - bass * Bill Linnane - piano *

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and backing vocals * Eric Troyer,

Rory Dodd Rory Dodd (born Port Dover, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian rock vocalist who has performed many songs written by Jim Steinman. He is probably best known for singing as the duet voice (the "Turn around, bright eyes" lyrics) on Bonnie Tyler's versi ...

, Holly Sherwood - backing vocals *

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

+ In initial releases of Air Supply's 1983 ''Greatest Hits'' album, Steve Buslowe was not included as the bassist in the album credits.Air Supply - ''Greatest Hits'' @Discogs.com. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
/ref> However, this error was corrected in future pressings.

Bonnie Tyler version

In 1995, Welsh singer

covered "Making Love (Out of Nothing at All)" on her eleventh studio album, '' Free Spirit'' (1995). The track was co-produced by Steinman and Steven Rinkoff, and features samples of Tyler's mother, Elsie Hopkins, singing " Un bel dì vedremo" from

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

's opera ''

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lu ...

''. The accompanying music video was directed by Randee St. Nicholas.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

called Tyler's interpretation "fantastic, clocking in at nearly eight minutes, and seems perfectly suited for her voice. ir Supply'sversion was already great, but hers is awesome." Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' wrote, "Written and produced by

Meatloaf Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat that has been combined with other ingredients, formed into the shape of a loaf, then baked or smoked. The final shape is either hand-formed on a baking tray or pan-formed by cooking it in a loaf pan. It is ...

's musical director Jim Steinman, Tyler does what few considered possible: singing a big ballad which goes beyond the monumental ' A Total Eclipse of the Heart'."

Lyrics

These lines were changed for the Tyler version, and also for the subsequent Karine Hannah version.

Charts

Re-recording

In 2010, Tyler released a new version of the song with Canadian singer Matt Petrin.

Rory Dodd demo version

A version from 1982 sung by Rory Dodd also exists. The only accompaniment is Steinman playing piano, and he includes several variations on the primary melody in the intro and bridge.

Lyrics

After the bridge, there are two verses that appear before the final two verses of the Air Supply version. The verse from the Tyler version is not included.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Making Love Out Of Nothing At All 1982 songs 1983 singles 1995 singles 1980s ballads Air Supply songs Bonnie Tyler songs Rock ballads Pop ballads Songs written by Jim Steinman Song recordings produced by Jim Steinman Arista Records singles Geffen Records singles East West Records singles Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements Music videos directed by Randee St. Nicholas Music videos shot in the United States