"Suddenly" is a duet performed by

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

and

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

Xanadu Xanadu may refer to: * Shangdu, the ancient summer capital of Kublai Khan's empire in China * a metaphor for opulence or an idyllic place, based upon Coleridge's description of Shangdu in his poem ''Kubla Khan'' Other places * Xanadu (Titan), ...

'', and is the love theme from the 1980 film of the same name. It was written and produced by

John Farrar John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963–64), The Stra ...

. "Suddenly" reached number 15 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in October 1980 and number 20 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in January 1981. It finished the year as number 91 on the ''Billboard'' Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 1981. It was also a major

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 ...

hit, reaching number four. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

shows Newton-John and Richard in a penthouse singing the song to each other, taken from her

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

TV special "Hollywood Nights" that aired before the

52nd Academy Awards The 52nd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1979 and took place on April 14, 1980, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p. ...

on April 14, 1980. The single's B-side, "You Made Me Love You" (Olivia solo), was also featured in the film ''Xanadu'' but does not appear on the soundtrack album.

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitar and synthesizer * David McDaniel – bass *

Ed Greene Ed Greene is an American drummer and session musician. In 1971 he recorded with Donald Byrd (''Ethiopian Knights'', 1972), together with Thurman Green, Harold Land, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Sample, Bobbye Porter Hall, David T. Walker, and Wilton ...

– drums *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthesi ...

– vocoder * Jai Winding – electric piano *

Richard Hewson Richard Anthony Hewson (born 17 November 1943) is an English producer, arranger, conductor and multi-instrumentalist, who created the studio group RAH Band. Career Hewson began in the late 1960s as an arranger, and has worked with musicians s ...

– orchestra conductor

Track listing and formats

7-inch vinyl single # "Suddenly" – 4:03 # "You Made Me Love You" (Olivia Newton-John) – 3:04

Charts

Weekly charts

Cover versions

The song was covered by Filipino singers

Sam Milby Samuel Lloyd Milby (; born May 23, 1984) is a Filipino American, Filipino-American actor, musician, guitarist, model, recording artist, and businessman. In 2005, Milby decided to seriously pursue a career in show business and modeling. Biograph ...

and

Toni Gonzaga Celestine Cruz Gonzaga-Soriano (; born January 20, 1984), better known as Toni Gonzaga, is a Filipino singer, host, actress, producer, vlogger and entrepreneur. She is the former lead host of long-running reality show, ''Pinoy Big Brother''. To ...

on their debut studio album '' Love Duets'' (2009).

References

1980 singles 1980 songs Olivia Newton-John songs Cliff Richard songs Jet Records singles Love themes Male–female vocal duets Songs from Xanadu (film) Song recordings produced by John Farrar Songs written by John Farrar MCA Records singles {{1980s-single-stub