"Love Without Mercy" is a song written by Don Pfrimmer and Mike Reid. It was originally recorded by

The Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet originating in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in Southern gospel during the 1950s. Their name was change ...

for their 1987 album '' Heartbeat'', and later by Reid on his album '' Twilight Town''. The Oak Ridge Boys' version was the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of their 1988 single "

True Heart ''True Heart'' is a 1997 American adventure film directed by Catherine Cyran and starring Kirsten Dunst as Bonnie and Zachery Ty Bryan as Sam. Plot summary ''True Heart'' tells the story of a brother and sister who survive a plane crash that kill ...

".Whitburn, p. 303 It was later 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

Lee Roy Parnell Lee Roy Parnell (born December 21, 1956) is an American country music and blues artist, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Active since 1990, he has recorded eight studio albums, and has charted more than twenty singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot C ...

. It was released in September 1992 as the third single from, and title track to, his 1992 album ''

Love Without Mercy ''Love Without Mercy'' is the second studio album by American country music singer Lee Roy Parnell. It was released in 1992 on Arista Records. The album includes the singles "The Rock", "What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am", "Tender Moment" and ...

''. The song spent 20 weeks on the

Hot Country Songs 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 ...

charts, peaking at number eight in early 1993.

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and t ...

released a version on her 1998 album ''Thinkin' About You''.

Music video

The music video was directed by

John Lloyd Miller John Lloyd Miller is an American filmmaker who has directed, produced and/or written music videos, short films, features, documentaries, commercials and television programming. Career Miller has worked in virtually every aspect of the film an ...

and premiered in September 1992.

Chart performance

"Love Without Mercy" debuted at number 68 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of October 3, 1992.

References

1992 singles The Oak Ridge Boys songs Lee Roy Parnell songs Mike Reid (singer) songs Rita Coolidge songs Songs written by Mike Reid (singer) Song recordings produced by Barry Beckett Song recordings produced by Scott Hendricks Arista Nashville singles Music videos directed by John Lloyd Miller Songs written by Don Pfrimmer 1987 songs {{1992-country-song-stub