Diana Ross and Lionel Richie's "Endless Love" began its remarkable nine-week reign at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Aug. 15, 1981, 45 years ago this week. It remained there through Oct. 10, ultimately becoming the second-biggest single of the year in the United States.
Decades later, Billboard put an even bigger distinction on the recording, naming Ross and Richie's "Endless Love" the No. 1 biggest duet of all time. In addition to its nine weeks at the summit, the publication noted that the song remained on the Hot 100 for an impressive 27 weeks.
Richie originally became involved with "Endless Love" after director Franco Zeffirelli commissioned him to create music for the 1981 romantic drama of the same name, starring Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt and Shirley Knight, plus a string of then-unknown actors including James Spader, Tom Cruise, Jami Gertz and Ian Ziering.
Getting the two stars into the same room wasn't quite so simple.
Despite the unusual hour, they had created a recording that would become a career milestone for both singers.
The middle-of-the-night recording session produced a song that didn't merely become a hit. By several measures, it made Motown history.
Its nine-week run atop the Billboard Hot 100 certainly helped earn those distinctions. The song became the best-selling single of Ross' career and her sixth and final solo No. 1. For Richie, meanwhile, it was his first No. 1 as a solo artist and the beginning of a run of major solo hits throughout the 1980s.
The song proved irresistible to another pair of powerhouse singers in 1994, when Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey recorded their own version. Their "Endless Love" came tantalizingly close to repeating the original's success, peaking at No. 2 on the Hot 100. It became Vandross' highest-charting pop hit and Carey's 12th Top 10 single.
But it is the original 1981 recording, captured with Ross and Richie together in the studio at an hour when most people were asleep, that made history. Forty-five years after "Endless Love" began its nine-week reign at No. 1, its record as one of pop music's most successful pairings remains formidable.
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