"When Will I Be Famous?" is a song by British boy band
Bros. Written by
Nicky Graham
Nicholas Lynedoch Graham is a musician, songwriter and music producer from the UK. He was born in Durban, South Africa, in January 1945, before his family returned to the UK in 1960.
His musical career began when joining UK band The End in 1965. ...
and
Tom Watkins, "When Will I Be Famous?" was released as a single in November 1987. The following year, it peaked at number two 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 ...
, topped 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 ...
, and entered the top five in several other countries. "When Will I Be Famous?" would later appear on Bros' 1988 album, ''
Push
Push may refer to:
Music
* Mike Dierickx (born 1973), a Belgian producer also known as Push
Albums
* ''Push'' (Bros album), 1988
* ''Push'' (Gruntruck album), 1992
* ''Push'' (Jacky Terrasson album), 2010
Songs
* "Push" (Enrique Iglesias s ...
''.
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' ranked the song at number 72 on their list of the "75 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time" in 2020. In 2017, ''
ShortList
A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...
''s Dave Fawbert listed this song at number one on his list of the "Greatest Key Changes in Music History".
Chart performance
"When Will I Be Famous?" was a number-one single in Ireland, as well as reaching number two in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway and Switzerland. It entered 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 ...
on 28 November 1987 at number 81, in an initial five-week chart run until the end of December. It re-entered the top 100 at number 51 on the week ending 3 January 1988, reaching number two four weeks later.
Track listings
UK and US 7-inch single, Japanese mini-CD single
# "When Will I Be Famous?"
# "Love to Hate You"
UK 12-inch single and European mini-CD single
# "When Will I Be Famous?" (the Infamous mix)
# "When Will I Be Famous?" (the Contender dub mix)
# "Love to Hate You"
US 12-inch single
# "When Will I Be Famous?" (club mix) – 8:02
# "When Will I Be Famous?" (acapella mix) – 4:06
# "When Will I Be Famous?" (7-inch version) – 3:59
# "When Will I Be Famous?" (dub mix) – 7:35
# "When Will I Be Famous?" (bonus beats) – 2:53
Japanese CD mini-album
# "When Will I Be Famous?"
# "When Will I Be Famous?" (Infamous mix)
# "When Will I Be Famous?" (the Contender dub mix)
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1987 singles
1987 songs
Bros (British band) songs
CBS Records singles
Epic Records singles
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Music videos directed by Andy Morahan
Song recordings produced by Nicky Graham
Songs about fame
Songs written by Nicky Graham
Songs written by Tom Watkins (music manager)