"You're the Inspiration" is a song written by

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera Jr. ( ; born September 13, 1944) is a retired American musician best known for being a frontman, vocalist, and bassist for the American rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985. His career as a recording artist ...

and

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

for the group

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and recorded for their fourteenth studio album '' Chicago 17'' (1984), with Cetera singing lead vocals. The third single released from that album, it reached on the US ''Billboard''

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 ...

chart in January 1985 and also climbed to the top position on the

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 ...

chart at the same time. The song won honors for Foster and Cetera from the

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

(ASCAP) in 1986 in the most-performed songs category. Peter Cetera re-recorded the song for his 1997 solo album '' You're the Inspiration: A Collection''. That same year he also recorded a single version with the vocal R&B group Az Yet.

History

stated in a 2004 interview that "You're the Inspiration" started out as a song for

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

: Cetera then changed some of the words and recorded the song with

for their '' Chicago 17'' album.

Reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' said that it was "somewhere between a hymn and an anthem."

Music video

The video depicted the band performing intercut with scenes of embracing couples of varying ages ranging from young kids to a couple resembling

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...

and

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

at the time. Lead singer Peter Cetera is seen wearing a T-shirt from the British goth band

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

. During his performance, Cetera is sitting the whole time strumming his bass which is flipped upside down. It also uses an alternate version of the song without the guitar sting between the second and third choruses.

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals, arrangements *

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the rock band Chicago (band), Chicago from 1 ...

– keyboards, guitars, backing vocals *

Robert Lamm Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for his songwriting, vocals, and keyboard melodies, most significantly on the band's debut studio album, ''Chic ...

– keyboards, backing vocals *

Lee Loughnane Lee David Loughnane (pronounced LOCK-nain; born October 21, 1946) is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/wo ...

– trumpet *

James Pankow James Carter Pankow (born August 20, 1947) is an American trombone player, songwriter, and brass instrument arranger who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for his brass arrangements, and for being one-third of Chi ...

– trombone *

Walter Parazaider Walter Parazaider (born March 14, 1945) is an American woodwind musician who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/woodwind section alongside Lee Loughnane and James Pankow. Para ...

– woodwinds *

Chris Pinnick Chris Pinnick (born July 23, 1953) is an American guitarist and songwriter, probably best known for his work with the band Chicago from 1980 to 1985. Pinnick was born on July 23, 1953, in Van Nuys, California, and took up the guitar at the age ...

– guitars *

Danny Seraphine Daniel Peter Seraphine (born August 28, 1948) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer, and film producer. He is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted from ...

– drums Additional personnel *

– keyboards, synthesizer programming, Moog synth bass, arrangements *

John Van Tongeren John Warrington Van Tongeren is an American keyboardist and composer for films and television. Biography Van Tongeren's career in the entertainment business began as a keyboardist, with one of his earliest projects being the band Q, featuring ...

– synthesizer programming * Erich Bulling – synthesizer programming * Marcus Ryle – synthesizer programming *

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 ...

– guitars *

Paul Jackson Jr. Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American Jazz fusion, fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. In addition to being a recording artist in his own right, Jackson is also a session player, with a career ...

– guitars *

Mark Goldenberg Mark Goldenberg (born October 2, 1952) is an American guitarist and songwriter, noted for his session work and composition of successful songs for Linda Ronstadt, the Pointer Sisters, and others. Biography Early career Raised in Chicago, Illi ...

– guitars *

Carlos Vega Carlos Vega (December 7, 1956 – April 7, 1998) was a Cuban-born Los Angeles-based session drummer best known for his performances with James Taylor. As a part of the L.A. studio scene from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Vega contributed to ...

– drums (uncredited) *

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 * Gary Grant – trumpet * Greg Adams – trumpet *

Jeremy Lubbock Jeremy Michael Lubbock (4 June 1931 – 29 January 2021) was a Grammy-winning English pianist, conductor, orchestrator, music producer, arranger, composer, and songwriter. Life and career Born in Kensington, London, he learned piano as ...

– string arrangements * Gerald Vinci – concertmaster * Jules Chakin – contractor * Kenny Cetera – backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Peter Cetera feat. Az Yet version

In 1997, Peter Cetera re-recorded "You're the Inspiration" for his 1997 solo album '' You're the Inspiration: A Collection''. Due to Cetera featuring on R&B vocal group Az Yet's cover of "

Hard to Say I'm Sorry "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" is a 1982 power ballad by American rock band Chicago. It was written by bassist Peter Cetera, who also sang the lead vocals on the track, and producer David Foster. It was released on May 17, 1982, as the lead single fro ...

" earlier in the year, they collaborated on a remix of Cetera's solo recording of "You're the Inspiration", which was released as a single. This version reached No. 77 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 29 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Like Az Yet's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry", Cetera and Az Yet's version of "You're the Inspiration" was also produced by

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

Music video

The music video for Peter Cetera and Az Yet's "You're the Inspiration" was directed by

Steven R. Monroe Steven R. Monroe (born 1964) is an American film director and writer. His credits include the remake of the 1978 horror movie ''I Spit on Your Grave'' (2010) and its sequel '' I Spit on Your Grave 2'' (2013). He resides in Los Angeles, California. ...

and was filmed at Westward Beach (

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

Track listings

# "You're the Inspiration" – 4:07 # "

" – 3:13

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1984 songs 1984 singles 1997 singles Chicago (band) songs Az Yet songs Peter Cetera songs Full Moon Records singles Song recordings produced by Babyface (musician) Song recordings produced by David Foster Songs written by David Foster Songs written by Peter Cetera Warner Records singles

History

Reception

Music video

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Peter Cetera feat. Az Yet version

Music video

Track listings

Charts

See also

References

External links