"I Don't Need You" is a song written by Rick Christian, and was first recorded and released as a single in 1978 on

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

, by Rick Christian himself at Shoe Productions, a recording studio/production company in Memphis, Tennessee, but it failed to chart.

Kenny Rogers recording

It was released in June 1981 as the lead single from Rogers album '' Share Your Love''. American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted m ...

had collaborated with R&B/pop singer-songwriter Lionel Richie in 1980 with the song " Lady". After the success of that record, Rogers asked Richie to produce his next album, ''Share Your Love''. Although the original plan was for Richie to write all the songs for Rogers' forthcoming album, the two men agreed to accept songs they both liked for the project which had been written by others. "I Don't Need You", written by Rick Christian, was one of those songs.Hyatt, Wesley (1999). ''The Billboard Book of No. 1 Adult Contemporary Hits'' (Billboard Publications) Rogers has been quoted describing "I Don't Need You" as "...still to this day one of my favorite songs", although he admitted that "I don't think I ever met Rick Christian, the guy who wrote it."

Charts

Selected as the lead single, "I Don't Need You" spent two weeks at number 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in August 1981. Whitburn, Joel (2004). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 8th Edition (Billboard Publications) The song also rose to number 1 on two other '' Billboard'' music charts, the

country chart Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

as well as the

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 remained atop the latter chart for six weeks in July and August of that year.

Other recordings

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ov ...

, recorded in 1979 and released on his album ''Flash Harry'' in 1980 (

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...

/Mercury, 1980). *

The Carpenters The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct, soft, musical style, combining Karen's contr ...

, recorded in 1980 but never released. *Madeleine Marks recorded it for her self-titled album, (

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

), in early 1981.Clayton, Rose (1981). "A Bright New Scene For Singer & Writer Christian ''Billboard Magazine'' (page 35) August 8, 1981 (Billboard Publications)

References

1981 singles 1981 songs Kenny Rogers songs Liberty Records singles {{1980s-pop-song-stub