"Don't Give Up on Us" is a song by American-British singer

David Soul David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943) is an American-British actor and singer. He is known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television series ''Starsky & Hutch'' from 1975 to 1979; Joshua Bolt on ' ...

. Riding high on the success of his role in the hit TV show ''

Starsky and Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...

'', Soul returned to singing, which had been one of his early career choices. His debut, the

Tony Macaulay Tony Macaulay (born Anthony Gordon Instone; 21 April 1944) is an English author, composer for musical theatre, and songwriter. He has won the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Award twice as 'Songwriter of the Year' (1970 an ...

-written-and-produced "Don't Give Up on Us" was a worldwide smash, spending four weeks at No. 1 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in January and February 1977, and a single week at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in April 1977. In addition, the song spent one week at No. 1 on the U.S.

Adult Contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

. It has sold 1.16 million copies in the UK. Its

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, "Black Bean Soup", with lyrics by actor

Gardner McKay George Cadogan Gardner McKay (June 10, 1932 – November 21, 2001) was an American actor, artist, and author. He is best known for the lead role in the TV series '' Adventures in Paradise'', based loosely on the writings of James Michener. His ...

, is a duet with actress

Lynne Marta Lynne may refer to: *Lynne (surname) *Lynne (given name) *Lynne, Florida, an unincorporated community *Lynne, Wisconsin Lynne is a town in Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 210 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated comm ...

, whom Soul was involved with at the time. "Don't Give Up on Us" was rated No. 93 in

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's ''100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders'' because, despite having more hits in the UK, Soul was never again able to reach the top 40 in the US. Soul recorded a new version of the song in 2004, allegedly after being embarrassed when hearing it by chance in an elevator as sung by

Owen Wilson Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and ''The Royal ...

in the film version of ''

''. The film soundtrack included a cover of the song by Wilson and

Neal Casal Neal Graeme Casal (November 2, 1968 – August 26, 2019) ...

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Cover versions

Irish singer Darren Holden covered "Don't Give Up on Us" in 1997, reaching No. 23 in Ireland. The song is popular in the Philippines and has been covered by Zsa Zsa Padilla,

Kuh Ledesma Maria Socorro "Kuh" Hashim Ledesma (born March 16, 1955) is a Filipino singer and actress. Born in Manila, Philippines with a Lebanese lineage and Ilonggo parents, she moved to Bacolod for college where she met some of her future Music and Magi ...

Jimmy Bondoc James Patrick Romero Bondoc (born May 31, 1975), known professionally as Jimmy Bondoc, is a Filipino musician and songwriter best known for composing his songs ''Let Me Be The One'' and ''Hanggang Dito Nalang.'' In 2021, he was named as a member ...

Marion Aunor Marion Louise Aunor is a Filipina singer, songwriter and now a movie actress. Early career She began her career after winning third place in the 2013 Himig Handog. Aunor is a former contract recording artist for Star Music, and is now under Viva ...

, JM de Guzman and

Piolo Pascual Piolo Jose Nonato Pascual (, born January 12, 1977) is a Filipino film and television actor, singer, model, and producer. Early life Piolo Jose Nonato Pascual was born on January 12, 1977, in Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center located in Malate ...

for the soundtrack of the 2006 film of the same title.

In popular culture

(playing Hutch, originally Soul's character) sang the song during a scene in the film version of ''Starsky and Hutch''. The song was also used in the film ''

Johnny English Reborn ''Johnny English Reborn'' is a 2011 spy action comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and written by Hamish McColl from a story by William Davies. A sequel to ''Johnny English'' (2003) and the second instalment in the ''Johnny English'' serie ...

'' (2011).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Don't Give Up On Us (Song) 1976 songs 1976 singles 1997 singles David Soul songs Songs written by Tony Macaulay Private Stock Records singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia RPM Top Singles number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand British soft rock songs Pop ballads