It's Gonna Take a Miracle

The Royalettes recording, 1965
"It's Gonna Take a Miracle"
Single by Deniece Williams
from the album Niecy
B-side "A Part of Love"
Released March 1982 (1982)
Genre R&B
Writer(s)

"It's Gonna Take a Miracle" is a popular song written by Teddy Randazzo, Bobby Weinstein, and Lou Stallman. It was first an R&B hit in 1965 for The Royalettes, who reached the Top 30 on the U.S. R&B chart and peaked at #41 on the U.S. pop chart.[1] This song was originally written and intended for Little Anthony & The Imperials, but they never recorded it due to a royalty dispute with the song's writers/label owners Teddy Randazzo and Don Costa at the group's record label, DCP (Don Costa Productions) Records.[2] Imperials member Sammy Strain recalls:

"We had a lot of hit records (with DCP) but we hadn’t received any royalties,” said Sammy. “We protested and said we’re not going into the studio anymore until we get an accounting. We didn’t record for about eight or nine months. In the interim, Teddy Randazzo produced a girls group out of Baltimore called the Royalettes. He gave them a song called “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle” which was written for Little Anthony & the Imperials. When it first came out, everybody thought it was us. He also produced Derek Martin who had a hit called “You Better Go”. But we missed a million seller with “Gonna Take A Miracle” when we went on strike with the record company."[3]

In 1971, Laura Nyro recorded the song for her album, Gonna Take a Miracle, where the background vocals for the album were performed by LaBelle. This Laura Nyro recording featured in "A Home at the End of the World" (2004).

The most successful version of the song was the 1982 remake by R&B and gospel artist Deniece Williams. Her version went to number one on the R&B chart for two weeks and reached number ten on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.[4]

Finally, in 1994, The Manhattan Transfer recorded a version with Bette Midler on lead vocals. This was released in 1995 on Manhattan Transfer's Tonin'.

References

  1. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 503.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 625.

External links

Preceded by
"If It Ain't One Thing, It's Another" by Richard "Dimples" Fields		 Billboard Hot Soul Singles number-one single (Deniece Williams version)
May 15–22, 1982 		Succeeded by
"Let It Whip" by The Dazz Band


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