Everything about Too Much Heaven totally explained
"
Too Much Heaven" is a song by the
Bee Gees, which was the band's contribution to the "Music for
UNICEF" fund. They performed it at the
Music for UNICEF Concert on
January 9,
1979. The song later found its way to the group's thirteenth original album,
Spirits Having Flown. In the
United States and
Canada, it became the latest in a long line of chart-toppers, and rose to the top three in the
United Kingdom, as well. It is also notable for featuring the
Chicago horn section (
James Pankow,
Walt Parazaider and
Lee Loughnane).
UNICEF plan
In the summer of
1978, the Gibb brothers announced their latest project at a news conference at the
United Nations in
New York City. All of the publishing royalties on their next single would go into UNICEF, to celebrate the
International Year of the Child, which was designated to be
1979. The song earned over $7 million dollars in publishing royalties. Then-
United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralded the move as "an outstanding and generous initiative."
The Bee Gees were later invited to the
White House, where President
Jimmy Carter thanked the group for their donation. At the ceremony, the brothers presented Carter with one of their black satin tour
jackets. Carter remarked that he was "not a disco fan" but knew enough about their music because his daughter
Amy was a big fan.
Release
"Too Much Heaven" was recorded nine months after "
Night Fever". At the time, this had been the longest gap in The Bee Gees' distribution of singles since 1975.
The single "Too Much Heaven" was released in the late autumn of
1978 (it had originally been intended for use in the
John Travolta movie
Moment By Moment, but was pulled before the film's release reportedly because Barry Gibb thought the movie was awful when he was shown a rough cut.), and started a slow ascent up the music charts. In the first week of
1979, preceding the
Music for UNICEF Concert, the single first topped the charts in both the United States and Canada. In the United Kingdom, the single peaked at number three late in 1978. A slow
ballad that was unlike the previous two singles off the
Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, Barry Gibb noted that the group wanted to "move in an R&B direction, still maintaining our lyric power, and our melody power as well."
US5
German boy band
US5 are releasing Too Much Heaven in 2007 as a duet with Robin Gibb. It will be from their as yet un-named new album. Too Much Heaven will be their first cover version and their first new single with new member Vincent.
Trivia
Norwegian pop duo M2M used the chorus from "Too Much Heaven" in the chorus of their own song "Our Song" - "Nobody gets too much heaven no more / It's much harder to come by/ I'm waiting in line / Nobody gets too much love anymore / It's as high as a mountain / And harder to climb". The song can be found on their debut album Shades of Purple.Further Information
Get more info on 'Too Much Heaven'.
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