Duncan Sheik, the alt-pop troubadour who left singing for Broadway, died Thursday, Sept. 17, at the age of 56. After being hospitalized earlier in the week, Sheik’s family shared the news of his death today, Sept. 18, with his mother confirming to The New York Times that he died from cardiac arrest.
Though his life was cut far too short, Sheik leaves behind a musical legacy that includes his signature song, “Barely Breathing,” a 1996 hit that became an enduring favorite and an intriguing chart record.
View this post on Instagram? SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox ?
How ‘Barely Breathing’ Became a Chart Oddity
First off, the song took its time finding an audience.
Serviced to radio in May 1996, “Barely Breathing” was part of his self-titled debut album. Fueled by melancholic vocals and acoustic guitar grooves, it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 months later, in November. Overall, it spent a record-breaking 55 weeks on the chart. At the time, that made it the fourth longest-running single in Hot 100 history.
But here’s the kicker: The song made Sheik an international star and even hit No. 2 on the Adult Top 40 chart, but it never cracked the all-genre Top 10, peaking at No. 16 in May 1997.
“One of the most-asked questions on Billboard Online for the past few weeks has been about the status of Sheik’s single,” Billboard wrote at the time. “Chart Beat readers want to know if he has the longest-running single that did not make the Top 10. As all of the other titles that were on the chart for 50 weeks or more peaked at No. 1 or No. 2, the answer is, clearly, yes.”
Still, “Barely Breathing” earned Sheik a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, while his self-titled debut album went Gold. And because Sheik wrote the song, he owned the songwriting credit himself, which means massive royalties.
So, it’s wild to think the pop star once thought of the track as a “throwaway.”
‘Barely Breathing’ Was Almost a Throwaway
Sheik wasn’t just the singer on the album. He wrote every song and played several instruments himself. Yet the song he considered a throwaway became the one that changed everything.
Calling the song’s success a fluke, Sheik told Pollstar the song was written as the last track on his debut Atlantic Records album and that there was “much more interesting music on the record.” But he also understood the radio-friendly nature of “Barely Breathing.”
“I [have been] on tour for the past eight months and I’ve probably played in front of a total of 60, 70, 80 thousand people, which is great and that has a huge impact. But on the radio, ‘Barely Breathing’ gets played 6,000 times a week right now,” he said. “That means it has a really massive cumulative audience of like 50 million people every week. So as much as I hope that touring is the mainstay of what I do, I do realize that radio is just a very powerful medium.”
Why Duncan Sheik Turned to Broadway
As Sheik’s music career evolved, he eventually turned his attention to musical theater. By the early 2000s, he had teamed up with playwright Steven Sater on Spring Awakening, which debuted Off-Broadway in 2006 before moving to Broadway, where it officially opened in December of that year.
“That was a weird time in the music business,” Sheik told Songfacts. “Because that was the moment … we shifted from a post-grunge, organic music-making process … into that time of Britney [Spears] and Christina [Aguilera] and NSYNC and Backstreet Boys—really bubblegum, engineered pop music. I was also like, ‘What am I doing in this universe?’ Because it wasn’t music I felt much kinship with. So the theater in some ways was a bit of a savior for me.”
A masterpiece of alternative rock and folk melodies, Spring Awakening was based on Frank Wedekind’s controversial 1891 German play about teenagers navigating sexual awakening in a repressive society. The show was also a smash, running for 859 performances on Broadway and winning eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It also earned Sheik a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album.
And it all began with a “throwaway” song that, 30 years later, remains a powerful hit. Now, the world will be watching the charts to see if it makes a humble return.
Related: ’60s Legends Who Outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones Make 60th Anniversary Announcement
Hence then, the article about duncan sheik s 1996 hit charted for 55 weeks without ever making the top 10 but 30 years later that could change was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Duncan Sheik’s 1996 Hit Charted for 55 Weeks Without Ever Making the Top 10—But 30 Years Later, That Could Change )
Also on site :
- 1968 Beatles Song, Written and Recorded in a Single Night, Was Scheduled Around a Movie the Band Did Not Want to Miss
- Four-Time Emmy Winner Matthew Rhys Says Dustin Hoffman Left Him Waiting Backstage at His 2000 ‘Graduate’ Run: ‘It’s Every Actor’s Insecurity’
- Goodreads Readers Can’t Stop Bingeing Books by This One Queen of Psychological Suspense, Including ‘The Intruder’