"Just Once" is a 1981 single released from

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

' album '' The Dude'' on

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. The song features

James Ingram James Edward Ingram (February 16, 1952 – January 29, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a two-time Academy Awards, Academy Award nominee for Academy Award for Best Original ...

on vocals, and reached number 17 on the ''Billboard'' chart in the summer of 1981. Ingram's singing was nominated for

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

at the

1982 Grammy Awards The 24th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1982, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, and were broadcast live on American television. The event recognized the accomplishments of musicians during the year 1981. Quincy Jones was the ...

History and composition

On a television program interview, Ingram stated that this song was a $50 demo done by ATV Music, composed by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Quincy Jones called back and wanted Ingram to sing on his album. The song is composed originally in the key of C major. The bridge modulates to the key of A flat major, moves to B major, then to D major for the final chorus, finally ending in B major (the song’s dominant chord) for the coda, representing the song’s sad ending.

Charts

Popular culture

*The song was featured prominently over the final scene of the 1982 film ''

The Last American Virgin ''The Last American Virgin'' is a 1982 American sex comedy film written and directed by Boaz Davidson. It is a remake of Davidson's 1978 Israeli film '' Eskimo Limon (Lemon Popsicle)''. After the success of the original film and its sequels in ...

''.

References

1981 songs 1981 singles Quincy Jones songs James Ingram songs A&M Records singles Pop ballads Contemporary R&B ballads Songs written by Barry Mann Songs with lyrics by Cynthia Weil {{1980s-R&B-song-stub