Artist:Yvonne EllimanSong:If I Can't Have you
Album:20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Yvonne Elliman
Yvonne Elliman is perceived as a one hit wonder for the 1978 number one hit If I Can't Have You from the film Saturday Night Fever and then she disappeared. For one thing, she had a couple more hits. But for most of the 70s she was a backup singer for Eric Clapton after starring in Jesus Christ Superstar. I guess she did disappear though. She was born Dec. 29, 1951 in Honolulu. She moved to London in 1969 and was discovered by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber and cast as Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar. She performed in the London production and then moved to New York for the Broadway production and then the film version. She was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1974. But you probably don't remember that she had a hit in with I Don't Know How To Love Him in 1971. It reached #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. Of course Helen Reddy had a much bigger hit with the song. In New York, Yvonne met and married RSO Records exec Bill Oakes. He introduced her to Eric Clapton. She sang backup on I Shot The Sherriff and toured with Clapton for five years. She also signed with RSO and had a couple of top 20 hits including a cover of the Barbara Lewis classic Hello Stranger. She had already worked with producers like Pete Townshend, Steve Cropper and Freddie Perren. And now The Bee Gees wanted to work with her. They were working on the music for the film Saturday Night Fever. They planned to have Yvonne sing How Deep Is Your Love and The Bee Gees were going to record If I Can't Have You. But label owner Robert Stigwood wanted The Bee Gees to record How Deep Is Your Love so they gave Yvonne If I Can't Have You. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. Yvonne had a couple more chart hits including the theme to the film Moment By Moment and she even appeared on the TV series Hawaii Five-O. Then she retired from music to raise a family. She returned with the 2004 CD Simple Needs and performs occasionally. This budget CD has all her 70s hits. Here's Yvonne Elliman performing If I Can't Have You on The Midnight Special 1978.
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