On this day in 1980: Winners at the Grammy Awards included: song of the year; ‘What A Fool Believes’ by The Doobie Brothers, album of the year; Billy Joel’s ’52nd St’, best new artist; Rickie Lee Jones, and best disco record, ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor.
On this day in 1988: George Michael went to #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Father Figure.’ It would spend two weeks in the top spot.
It was released on December 28, 1987 as the fourth single from his “Faith” album. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #11 on the U.K. singles chart. Additionally, it was a top 5 hit in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. In the United States, “Father Figure” became George Michael’s sixth number #1 single (including three #1 singles garnered as half of Wham!).
George Michael on the genesis of “Father Figure”:
“The initial concept was totally different from the way the song turned out. In fact, the initial concept for ‘Father Figure’ was to make it a kind of mid-tempo dance track. And what happened was I wanted to hear something in my mix so I happened to cut out the snare on the board and suddenly it changed the whole entire mood of the track. Suddenly it seemed really dreamy. And this was halfway through writing it because I was writing the song as I was going along in the studio. And I just thought, well, hey, this is actually much better! So I worked the rest of the feel of the track around this spacey type sound. And it ended up, in my mind, being the most original-sounding thing on the album”
Here’s a look at the complete Top 20 on the U.S. singles chart from this day back in 1988:
1 4 FATHER FIGURE –•– George Michael – 7 (1)
2 2 WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS? –•– Pet Shop Boys & Dusty Springfield – 12 (2)
3 7 SHE’S LIKE THE WIND –Patrick Swayze Featuring Wendy Fraser – 11 (3)
4 8 NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP –•– Rick Astley – 11 (4)
5 5 HUNGRY EYES –•– Eric Carmen – 17 (4)
6 1 SEASONS CHANGE –•– Expose – 14 (1)
7 6 SAY YOU WILL –•– Foreigner – 13 (6)
8 12 I GET WEAK –•– Belinda Carlisle – 7 (8)
9 9 DON’T SHED A TEAR –•– Paul Carrack – 16 (9)
10 11 CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM YOU –•– Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine – 15 (10)
11 3 COULD’VE BEEN –•– Tiffany – 14 (1)
12 18 JUST LIKE PARADISE –•– David Lee Roth – 7 (12)
13 13 PUMP UP THE VOLUME –•– M/A/R/R/S – 14 (13)
14 16 I FOUND SOMEONE –•– Cher – 15 (14)
15 20 ENDLESS SUMMER NIGHTS –•– Richard Marx – 6 (15)
16 10 I WANT TO BE YOUR MAN –•– Roger – 16 (3)
17 27 MAN IN THE MIRROR –•– Michael Jackson – 4 (17)
18 24 OUT OF THE BLUE –•– Debbie Gibson – 5 (18)
19 22 LOVE OVERBOARD –•– Gladys Knight & The Pips – 8 (19)
20 26 I WANT HER –•– Keith Sweat – 7 (20)
