"Valerie" is a 1982 song written by English musician and songwriter

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

and

Will Jennings Wilbur H. "Will" Jennings (born June 27, 1944) is an American lyricist. He is popularly known for writing the lyrics for the songs "Tears in Heaven" and "My Heart Will Go On". He has been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and has won s ...

, and originally recorded by Winwood for his third solo album, ''

Talking Back to the Night ''Talking Back to the Night'' is the third solo studio album by English recording artist Steve Winwood. Released less than two years after the top 3 hit ''Arc of a Diver'', it failed to see as much success as its predecessor, reaching #28 on the ...

'' (1982).

Background

The song deals with a man reminiscing about a lost love he hopes to find again someday. Will Jennings reportedly wrote the lyrics while thinking about singer

Valerie Carter Valerie Gail Zakian Carter (February 5, 1953 – March 4, 2017) was an American singer. Biography Carter began her career singing in coffeehouses as a teenager, and eventually became one-third of the country-folk band Howdy Moon. Though they de ...

, whose career was declining, in part, because of drug use. On its original release, the single reached number 51 on the UK Singles Chart and number 70 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 1987, a

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1963) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at The Hit Factory in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground f ...

was included as a single from Winwood's compilation album ''

Chronicles Chronicles may refer to: * ''Books of Chronicles'', in the Bible * Chronicle, chronological histories * ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis * ''Holinshed's Chronicles'', the collected works of Raphael Holinshed * ''The Idhu ...

''. The remixed version of "Valerie" climbed to number 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in late December 1987, and also reached number 19 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 ...

. Both versions also reached number 13 on the U.S.

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart.

DJ Falcon Stéphane Quême (), (born January 2, 1973), known as DJ Falcon, is a French DJ, record producer and photographer. He is the brother of Delphine Quême (Quartet) and a cousin of Alan Braxe (Alain Quême). Career In 1999, Falcon released his firs ...

recalled in an interview that he and

Thomas Bangalter Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, DJ and composer. Son of French music composer and artist Daniel Vangarde. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft ...

, as a duo called

Together ''ToGetHer'' (, aka Superstar Express) is a 2009 Taiwanese drama starring Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit, Rainie Yang and George Hu. It was produced by Comic International Productions ( 可米國際影視事業股份有限公司) and directed by Linzi P ...

, had sampled "Valerie" to create a track that they used in DJ sets. Falcon added that the duo had no intention of releasing it as a single, despite demand from various outlets.

Eric Prydz Eric Sheridan Prydz (, ; born 19 July 1976), also known by his many aliases including Pryda () and Cirez D (), is a Swedish DJ and music producer. He rose to fame with his 2004 hit single " Call on Me", and saw continued chart success with "Pro ...

later sampled "Valerie" in 2004 for a

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

track and presented it to Winwood, who was so impressed with what Prydz had done, he re-recorded the vocals to better fit the track. It was released as " Call on Me" that same year. "Call on Me" was, in turn, sampled in 2009's "Pass Out" from

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

(featuring

Eva Simons Eva Maria Simons (born 27 April 1984) is a Dutch singer-songwriter from Amsterdam. She is best known for her song "Policeman" and collaborations with artists such as Afrojack; in 2012, Simons broke through internationally after being featured on ...

) on his ''

Graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

'' album, also co-produced by Prydz.

Track listing

* 1982 single: #"Valerie" #"Slowdown Sundown" * 1987 7-inch single: #"Valerie" #"Talking Back to the Night" (instrumental) * 1987 12" and CD single: #"Valerie" #"Talking Back to the Night" (instrumental) #"The Finer Things" (12" version)

Charts

1982 release

1987 release

Year-end charts

References

External links

Dave Connolly discography: Steve Winwood - "Valerie"
{{Authority control 1982 songs 1982 singles 1987 singles Steve Winwood songs Songs with lyrics by Will Jennings Songs written by Steve Winwood Island Records singles