"Happy" is a song written by

Michel Legrand Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many son ...

and

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

and first recorded by

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American musician and actor. He performed jazz, Pop music, pop, rock and roll, Folk music, folk, Swing music, swing, and country music. He started his car ...

. The song was first released as a single by Bobby Darin on November 23, 1972, peaking #67 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, it was his last single to hit the chart. The song was included on his posthumous

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

LP ''Darin: 1936–1973''. A version of the song by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

was featured on Jackson's 1973 album ''

Music & Me ''Music & Me'' is the third studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released on April 13, 1973 on the Motown label. The album was reissued in 2009 as part of the three-disc compilation '' Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection''. Back ...

''. Robinson also recorded a version of the song, included on Robinson's 1975 album ''

A Quiet Storm ''A Quiet Storm'' is the 1975 third solo album by American soul music, soul singer, songwriter, and producer Smokey Robinson. The album received generally positive reviews, and spawned the hit single "Baby That's Backatcha", which spent one week ...

''.

Background

According to Robinson, the song was inspired by the film's melody, which was originally composed by

. He explained, "I was looking at the movie one day, and I was listening to that melody, and I thought it was just such a beautiful melody, until I wanted to write some words for that melody, which I did, and I went and I sang them for Berry Gordy, and he was really upset because I didn't write them before he finished the movie so they could've been in the movie."

Michael Jackson recording

recorded the song for the

label in 1973. The song featured on Jackson's album ''

''. Its full title is "Happy (Love Theme from ''Lady Sings the Blues'')", although Michael's version was never featured in the film, there was an instrumental version used, however, it was not featured on the soundtrack for '' Lady Sings the Blues''. Michael Jackson's single was first released in Australia, backed by "In Our Small Way". Jackson continued to perform the track in concert as late as 1977, citing it as one of his favorite songs. In 1983, the song was released as a single in the UK to promote Motown's '' 18 Greatest Hits''

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, on which the song was included. Upon its release, "Happy" (credited to Michael Jackson plus

The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

) peaked at #52 on the British pop chart.George, p. 39

Charts

Other cover versions

*It was later recorded by the song's composer,

, and appeared on his landmark solo album ''

''. *The Spanish teen group

La Pandilla La Pandilla was a teen music group of the 1970s, founded in 1970 by Pepa Aguirre. The group had members of both sexes, unlike most pop groups at the time. Aguirre's son, daughter, and niece formed the band; later, 2 boys were added. Their first ...

also recorded a Spanish-language version of the song for their 1974 album ''

El Alacrán EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

''. *Dominican singer Benny Sadel released a merengue version of the Spanish-language rendition of the song on his 2002 album ''

La Negra Mia LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

''.

Notes

References

*Halstead, Craig and Chris Cadman (2003). ''

: The Solo Years''. Authors OnLine. * George, Nelson (2004). '' Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection'' booklet.

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

. {{authority control Michael Jackson songs 1973 singles 1983 singles Songs with music by Michel Legrand Songs written by Smokey Robinson Motown singles Song recordings produced by Hal Davis Rhythm and blues ballads Bobby Darin songs 1972 songs