"Grease" is a song written by

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popula ...

and performed by Frankie Valli as the title song for the 1978 musical motion picture '' Grease'', which was based on the 1971 stage play ''Grease''. Valli released the song, which celebrates the greaser lifestyle, as a single in May 1978; it sold over seven million copies worldwide and appeared twice on the film's

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

, first as the opening track and again as the closing track. "Grease" was one of four songs written specifically for the film that had not been in the stage production.

Background

Jim Jacobs Jim Jacobs (born October 7, 1942) is an American actor, composer, lyricist, and writer for the theatre, long associated with the Chicago theater scene. Jacobs is best known for creating the book, storyline, characters, lyrics for the 1971 musi ...

and

Warren Casey Warren Casey (April 20, 1935 – November 8, 1988) was an American theater composer, lyricist, writer, and actor. He was the writer and composer, with Jim Jacobs, of the stage musical '' Grease''. Career Warren Casey was born on April 20, 1935, ...

had written a different title track for '' Grease'' for its original Chicago production, but the song was discarded when the show was picked up on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

was commissioned to compose a new title song for

Robert Stigwood Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream (band), Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions ...

's film of the stage musical.

Production

The song was recorded separately from, and later than, the rest of those in the film. Shortly after the filming of the 1978 musical ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', Gibb invited cast-mate Peter Frampton to play guitar on the ''Grease'' session, while also providing

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

himself. The other musicians were some of those from the

Andy Gibb Andrew Roy Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was an English singer, songwriter, and actor. He was the younger brother of Barry, Robin and Maurice, who went on to form the Bee Gees. Gibb came to prominence in the late 1970s through th ...

album that was being made around the same time. Frankie Valli was approached to provide the vocals, due to his vocal range being similar to that of Barry Gibb, his being under the management of

Allan Carr Allan Carr (born Allan Solomon; May 27, 1937 – June 29, 1999) was an American producer and manager of stage for the screen. Carr was nominated for numerous awards, winning a Tony Award and two People's Choice Awards, and was named Producer o ...

at the time, and his status as a popular singer from the pre-

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...

era that ''Grease'' represented. Gibb had a long-standing respect for Valli as "one of the hallmark voices of our generation". Valli accepted, despite suffering from severe

otosclerosis Otosclerosis is a condition of the middle ear where portions of the dense enchondral layer of the bony labyrinth remodel into one or more lesions of irregularly-laid spongy bone. As the lesions reach the stapes the bone is resorbed, then har ...

and loss of hearing at the time. When Valli recorded "Grease", he did not have a recording contract, having been contracted to

Private Stock Records Private Stock Records was a record label that operated from 1974 to 1978. The label was founded by Larry Uttal after he was ousted from Bell Records. The label primarily focused on pop music and had numerous hit records, many of them one-hit wo ...

which had folded earlier in 1978. After the single was released on the RSO label, which also issued the soundtrack, Valli quickly landed a deal with

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, which had Valli's group The Four Seasons under contract at the time. "Grease" was one of four songs in the film that had not been part of the original musical, and it was the only one not performed by the cast. Valli had been offered the part of the Teen Angel but chose to sing the theme song instead, stating that although that character's song ("

Beauty School Dropout "Beauty School Dropout" is a song from the musical '' Grease''. It was written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, and was performed by Frankie Avalon for the film version and soundtrack album Overview In the musical, the song is the showcase piece of ...

") did not chart as a hit, both Valli and

Frankie Avalon Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American actor, singer, and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including number one hits, "Venus" an ...

profited mightily from their respective appearances through album royalties, and thus the choice worked out. The film's director,

Randal Kleiser John Randal Kleiser (born July 20, 1946) is an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter and actor, best known for directing the 1978 musical romantic-comedy film '' Grease''. Biography John Randal Kleiser was born in Lebanon ...

, did not like the added songs because they did not fit the late-1950s/early 1960s style either musically or lyrically, and Kleiser had planned on a different composition by Charles Fox and Paul Williams (Fox having written the theme from ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

'') before being overruled by the producers. The anachronism was especially true of "Grease", which used disco instrumentation and a contemporary 1970s beat but was, nonetheless, left in. The film's opening title sequence animation was created by animator

John David Wilson John David Wilson (8 August 1919 – 20 June 2013) was an English artist, animator and producer. He owned his own production studio, Fine Arts Films Fine Arts Films was a production studio based in Northern England and Hollywood. It was found ...

's Fine Arts Films studio.

Reception

"Grease" became a number-one single in the United States in 1978 and also reached number forty on the R&B charts in the same year. Later in 1978, Valli released a follow-up album, the title of which—'' Frankie Valli... Is the Word''—echoes the "grease is the word" lyric contained in the chorus of "Grease". "Grease" was Valli's final Top 40 hit. The Bee Gees never recorded a studio version of this song; however, they later performed the song in their ''One Night Only'' tour from 1997 until 1999 and included a performance with Valli on their live album, '' One Night Only'' (September 1998).

Personnel

* Frankie Valli — lead vocals *

—

The Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists. A founding member of the group was Dionne Warwick, who was later replaced by her aunt, Ciss ...

—

* Peter Frampton —

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

* George Terry —

*Harold Cowart — bass *Ron Ziegler — drums *Karl Richardson —

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Gary Brown
— saxophone

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cover versions

Craig McLachlan Craig Dougall McLachlan (born 1 September 1965) is an Australian actor, musician, singer and composer. He has been involved in film, television, the music industry and music theatre for over 30 years. He is best known for appearing in the soap ...

covered the song in 1993 and it reached number 44 in the UK. *

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...

covered the song in 2003 as part of Greasemania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grease (Song) Songs about teenagers Songs about youth subcultures 1978 singles 1978 songs 1993 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Craig McLachlan songs Disco songs Frankie Valli songs Funk rock songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles RSO Records singles Song recordings produced by Albhy Galuten Song recordings produced by Barry Gibb Songs from Grease (film) Songs from Grease (musical) Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written for films Film theme songs