AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Kenny Loggins

Artist:Kenny Loggins f/Stevie Nicks
Song:Whenever I Call You Friend
Album:The Essential Kenny Loggins





In the 80s Kenny Loggins was the king of movie soundtrack hits. The 1978 single Whenever I Call You Friend was the only one of his five top ten hits that wasn't from a movie. It was also his first top ten hit. Of course Loggins became famous in Loggins & Messina. Considering that Loggins was always supposed to be a solo act and Jim Messina was only supposed to produce, it was inevitable that Loggins would want to record solo. His touring band was the same minus Messina. Whenever I Call You Friend was the first single from Loggins' second solo album Nightwatch. Bob James produced. Loggins wrote Whenever I Call You Friend with the popular singer songwriter Melissa Manchester. Melissa says the two would run into each other at TV awards shows. They started chatting and Loggins came over to her house one night and they wrote the song. But they were never able to work out their schedules and record a duet. So when the time came for Loggins to record the song, it looks like Stevie Nicks may have been recording something in the same studio, possibly with Walter Egan. In a 1982 interview with High Times, Stevie jokingly described Loggins as a slave driver. The single reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Melissa recorded her own version of Whenever I Call You Friend with session singer Arnold McCuller but that went nowhere. Jon Clarke plays the sax solo. You'll notice that Stevie isn't in the video. Her vocal is taken by bassist George Hawkins. Loggins even performed the song on a TV show with some girl lipsyncing Stevie's vocal. So it was strictly a studio recording. You can get it on this 2CD comp and the song also appears on a couple of Stevie Nicks comps. Here's the video for Whenever I Call You Friend by Kenny Loggins featuring George Hawkins.