"In This Life" is a song written by Mike Reid and

Allen Shamblin Allen Shamblin is a country music songwriter who was born in Tennessee, and was brought up in Huffman, Texas. After graduating from Sam Houston State University he worked in Austin as a real estate appraiser. In 1987, he quit his job and move ...

, and recorded by 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, ...

singer

Collin Raye Floyd Elliot Wray (born August 22, 1960) is an American country music singer, known professionally as Collin Raye, and previously as Bubba Wray. Under the latter name, he recorded as a member of the band The Wrays between 1983 and 1987. He made ...

that reached the top of the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks 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 ...

chart. It was released in July 1992 as the first single and title track from his CD '' In This Life.''

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of ''

'' magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that the "control, emotion, and integrity with which Raye delivers such tender material is seldom achieved."''

'', August 1, 1992

Chart performance

The song debuted at No. 58 on the

chart dated August 1, 1992. It charted for 20 weeks on that chart, and became his second Number One single on the chart dated October 3, 1992, where it remained for two weeks. It also peaked at No. 21 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart.

Charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

The song appears on the album ''One Careful Owner'' by

Michael Ball Michael Ashley Ball (born 27 June 1962) is an English singer, presenter and actor. He made his West End debut in 1985 playing Marius Pontmercy in the original London production of ''Les Misérables'', and went on to star in 1987 as Raoul in ...

. The song appears on the album Now's the Time (4 P.M. album) by the group 4 P.M.

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

recorded the song for her album ''

Bette of Roses ''Bette of Roses'' is the eighth studio album by the American singer Bette Midler. It was released by Atlantic Records on July 18, 1995, in the United States. The title was a play on the title of one of the tracks, "Bed of Roses". It became Midle ...

''. The song appears on the 1996 album ''

N Dis Life ''N Dis Life'' is the fourth and final album of original music by Hawaiian singer Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole before his death, released in 1996. It reached #3 at Top World Music Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popu ...

'' by Hawaiian singer

Israel Kamakawiwoʻole Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole (; meaning 'the fearless eye, the bold face'; May 20, 1959June 26, 1997), also called Bruddah Iz or just simply IZ, was a Hawaiian musician, singer, songwriter, and Hawaiian sovereignty activist. He achieved c ...

Amy Hanaiali'i Amy is a female given name, sometimes short for Amanda, Amelia, Amélie, or Amita. In French, the name is spelled ''" Aimée"''. People A–E * Amy Acker (born 1976), American actress * Amy Vera Ackman, also known as Mother Giovanni (1886 ...

covered it again in her 2008 album, 'Aumakua. In 2005, Irish pop band

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

recorded and included the song on their album, '' Face to Face''.

Ronan Keating version

Irish singer

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...

covered the song for his debut solo album '' Ronan'', released in 2000. As part of a Pepsi promotion, a 3" CD single of "In This Life" was issued in December 2000 exclusively in Tesco stores. The song failed to chart due to its ineligibility, as 3" singles are not able to chart. On October 17, 2009, Keating performed the song at the funeral of his bandmate

Stephen Gately Stephen Patrick David Gately (17 March 197610 October 2009) was an Irish singer, who, with Ronan Keating, was co-lead singer of the pop group Boyzone; all of Boyzone's studio albums during Gately's lifetime hit number one in the United Kingdo ...

, and as such, the track entered the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

at number 45 for the week of October 22, 2009.

Track listing

# "In This Life" - 3:10 # "Exclusive Ronan Interview" - 10:00 # "CD-Rom Footage"

Westlife version

Irish boyband Westlife sang a version of the song on their 2005 album Face To Face. Due to its popularity and its many downloads, Westlife's version got to Number 87 in the UK Singles Chart.

References

{{authority control 1992 songs 1992 singles 2000 singles Collin Raye songs Ronan Keating songs Bette Midler songs Songs written by Allen Shamblin Songs written by Mike Reid (singer) Song recordings produced by Garth Fundis Epic Records singles Polydor Records singles Westlife songs