"What's Forever For" is a song written by Rafe Van Hoy and first recorded by

England Dan & John Ford Coley England Dan & John Ford Coley were an American soft rock duo composed of Danny Wayland "England Dan" Seals and John Edward "John Ford" Coley, active throughout the 1970s. Native Texans, they are best known for their 1976 single "I'd Really Lo ...

on their 1979 album '' Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive''. The song saw its biggest success when it was recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Michael Martin Murphey Michael Martin Murphey (born March 14, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter. He was one of the founding artists of progressive country. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including ''Cowboy Songs (Michael Martin Murphey alb ...

. It was released in June 1982 as the second single from his album, ''

''. The song was Murphey's first of two number ones on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent 16 weeks in the country top 40. On the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

, "What's Forever For" was his final top 40 hit, peaking at number 19. The song is also one of his most well known in the Philippines, along with " Maybe This Time".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian country, pop and adult contemporary music singer who has sold over 55 million album copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray has won four Grammys including the Grammy ...

on her 1980 album '' Somebody's Waiting'', released by Capitol Records. "What's Forever For" was also included as the B-side of her Beatles cover hit, "

I'm Happy Just to Dance with You "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded in 1964 by the English rock band the Beatles for the film soundtrack to ''A Hard Day's Night''. Lead vocals are by George Harrison, whose perfor ...

". *

T. G. Sheppard William Neal Browder (born July 20, 1944) is an American country music singer, known professionally as T. G. Sheppard. He had 14 number-one hits on the US country charts between 1974 and 1986, including eight consecutive number ones between 19 ...

on his 1981 album '' I Love 'Em All'', released by Warner Bros. Records. *

Daryl Somers Daryl Paul Somers (né Schulz; 6 August 1951) is an Australian television personality and musician, and a triple Gold Logie award-winner. He rose to national fame as the host and executive producer of the long-running comedy-variety program ' ...

on his 1982 single. *

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer. Starting his 69-year career with singles of standard (music), standard music, Mathis is one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century and became highly popular as ...

on his 1982 album Friends in Love, released on Columbia Records. *

Jeff Trachta Jeff Trachta (born October 6, 1960, in Staten Island, New York) is an American actor and singer, best known for portraying Thorne Forrester on the soap opera ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' from 1989 to 1996. He was the second of four actors to play ...

and

Bobbie Eakes Bobbie Diane Eakes is an American actress and singer. She is known for her role as Macy Alexander on ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (1989–2000, 2001, 2002–2003) and for her role as Krystal Carey on ''All My Children'' (2003–2011). Biog ...

, on the

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

The Bold and the Beautiful ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''Th ...

'' and on their 1994 album ''Bold and Beautiful Duets''. *

Billy Gilman William Wendell Gilman III (born May 24, 1988), known professionally as Billy Gilman, is an American country music singer. Starting as a young country artist, he is known for his debut single " One Voice", a top 40 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

on his 2000 album '' One Voice'', released by Epic Records. * Filipino acoustic singer

Nyoy Volante Niño del Mar Coching Volante (born January 25, 1978), better known as Nyoy Volante (), is a Filipino acoustic pop singer-songwriter and actor. Early life and education Nyoy Volante was born as Niño del Mar Coching Volante on January 25, 1978 ...

covered the song on his 2008 album, ''Heartstrings''. * Tonny Willé and Marco Bakker *

John Conlee John Wayne Conlee (born August 11, 1946) is an American country music singer. Between 1978 and 2004, Conlee charted a total of 32 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, and recorded 11 studio albums. His singles include seven ...

on the album ''With Love'' in 1981 on MCA. * B.J. Thomas on his 2000 album ''You Call That a Mountain''. *

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 ...

on her 1998 album ''

Back With a Heart ''Back with a Heart'' is the sixteenth studio album by British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John. It was released by MCA Nashville on 12 May 1998 in the United States. Her first album in four years, it marked her return to country music after ...

'', Japanese release.

References

1978 songs 1982 singles England Dan & John Ford Coley songs Anne Murray songs John Conlee songs T. G. Sheppard songs Michael Martin Murphey songs Billy Gilman songs B. J. Thomas songs Song recordings produced by Jim Ed Norman Liberty Records singles Songs written by Rafe Van Hoy {{1982-country-song-stub