"Suddenly" is a duet performed by

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...

and

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

'' Xanadu'', and is the love theme from the 1980 film of the same name. It was written and produced by

John Farrar John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian Record producer, music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963 ...

. "Suddenly" reached number 15 on the UK Singles Chart in October 1980 and number 20 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in January 1981. It finished the year as number 91 on the ''Billboard'' Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 1981. It was also a major

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 ...

hit, reaching number four. The

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 ...

shows Newton-John and Richard in a penthouse singing the song to each other, taken from her

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

TV special "Hollywood Nights" that aired before the

52nd Academy Awards The 52nd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1979 and took place on April 14, 1980, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, beginning at 6:00 p ...

on April 14, 1980. The single's B-side, "You Made Me Love You" (Olivia solo), was also featured in the film ''Xanadu'' but does not appear on the soundtrack album.

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitar and synthesizer * David McDaniel – bass *

Ed Greene Ed Greene is an American drummer and session musician. In 1971 he recorded with Donald Byrd ('' Ethiopian Knights'', 1972), together with Thurman Green, Harold Land, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Sample, Bobbye Porter Hall, David T. Walker, and Wi ...

– drums *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthes ...

– vocoder * Jai Winding – electric piano * Richard Hewson – orchestra conductor * David J. Holman – mixing and engineering

Track listing and formats

7-inch vinyl single # "Suddenly" – 4:03 # "You Made Me Love You" (Olivia Newton-John) – 3:04

Charts

Weekly charts

Cover versions

The song was covered by Filipino singers

Sam Milby Samuel Lloyd Milby (born May 23, 1984) is a Filipino actor, model and musician. He came to prominence after joining the first edition of '' Pinoy Big Brother''. Biography Samuel Lloyd Milby was born on May 23, 1984 in Troy, Ohio, USA to parent ...

and

Toni Gonzaga Celestine Cruz Gonzaga-Soriano (born January 20, 1984), professionally known as Toni Gonzaga, is a Filipino media personality, host, actress, businesswoman, singer and vlogger. Gonzaga was the former lead host of ABS-CBN's long-running reality ...

on their debut studio album '' Love Duets'' (2009).

References

1980 singles 1980 songs Olivia Newton-John songs Cliff Richard songs Jet Records singles Love themes Male–female vocal duets Songs from Xanadu (film) Song recordings produced by John Farrar Songs written by John Farrar MCA Records singles {{1980s-single-stub