"Wind Beneath My Wings" (sometimes titled "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and "Hero") is a song written in 1982 by

Jeff Silbar Jeff Silbar is a songwriter. Silbar, a native of Los Angeles, won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1990 for co-writing Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" with Larry Henley. Notable compositions *" All My Life" (Kenny Rogers) *" He's a H ...

and

Larry Henley Larry Joel Henley (June 30, 1937 – December 18, 2014) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for co-writing (with Jeff Silbar) the 1989 hit record "Wind Beneath My Wings". Early life Henley was born to Carl Henley and Helen Quinn in Od ...

. The song was first recorded by

Kamahl Kandiah Kamalesvaran ( ta, கந்தையா கமலேஸ்வரன்; born 13 November 1934), better known by his stage name Kamahl, is a Malaysian-born Australian singer and recording artist. His highest charting Australian single, ...

in 1982 for a country and western album he was recording. Kamahl talked about being the first to record the song in an appearance on Australian TV show '' Spicks and Specks'', but stated it was not commercially released because it was felt he did not suit the country and western style. Instead,

Roger Whittaker Roger Henry Brough Whittaker (born 22 March 1936) is a British singer-songwriter and musician, who was born in Nairobi to English parents. His music is an eclectic mix of folk music and popular songs in addition to radio airplay hits. He is bes ...

recorded the song, as well as

Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress. Easton came into the public eye in an episode of the first British musical reality television programme '' The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to ...

and

Lee Greenwood Melvin Lee Greenwood (born October 27, 1942) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He also plays the saxophone. Active since 1962, he has released more than 20 major-label albums and has charted more than 35 singles on the ''Billboa ...

. The song appeared shortly thereafter in charted versions by

Colleen Hewett Colleen Hewett (born 16 April 1950) is an Australian singer and actress. Hewett's top 40 singles on the Kent Music Report include " Super Star", " Day by Day" (both 1971), "Carry That Weight" (1972), "Dreaming My Dreams with You" (1980) ...

(1982),

Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American record producer, singer, composer and actor. Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his s ...

(1983),

Gladys Knight & the Pips Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s. Starting out as simpl ...

(1983), and

Gary Morris Gary Gwyn Morris (born December 7, 1948) is an American singer and stage actor who charted a string of hits on the country music charts throughout the 1980s. Morris is known for the 1983 ballad "The Wind Beneath My Wings", although his credits ...

(1983). The highest-charting version of the song to date was recorded in 1988 by singer and actress

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

for the soundtrack to the film ''

Beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

''. This version was released as a single in early 1989, spent one week at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in June 1989, and won

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

s for both

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

and Song of the Year in February 1990. On October 24, 1991, Midler's single was also certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for shipment of one million copies in the United States. In 2004, Midler's version finished at No. 44 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...

recorded the song for his final studio album ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'', released by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

in 1987. Como wanted "Wind Beneath My Wings" released as a single, but RCA refused; Como was reportedly so angry he vowed to never record for RCA Records ever again. In a 2002 UK poll, "Wind Beneath My Wings" was found to be the most-played song at British funerals.

Background

Several years earlier, Henley had written a poem with the same title for his ex-wife. One day, when the two men sat down to write a song for

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, break ...

, Silbar saw that Henley had written that title on his legal pad, and was inspired by those words to write the song. Apart from the title, the song did not incorporate any of the text of the original poem. Henley wrote the lyrics and Silbar wrote the music. Silbar and Henley recorded a demo of the song, which they gave to musician Bob Montgomery. Montgomery then recorded his own demo version of the song, changing it from the mid-tempo version he was given to a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

. Silbar and Henley then offered the song to many artists, which eventually resulted in

becoming the first to release the song commercially. It appears on his 1982 studio album, also titled ''The Wind Beneath My Wings''. The song was shortly thereafter recorded by Australian artist

and released by Avenue Records in 1982. Hewitt's recording became the first version of the song to be issued as a single and to appear on a national chart, peaking at No. 52 on Australia's

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

chart. The first year "Wind Beneath My Wings" appeared on music industry trade publication charts in the United States was 1983. Singer

was the first to score a major hit with the song, as his version peaked at No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart, No. 60 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Black Singles chart, and No. 65 on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart.''Billboard'', April 13, 1996, p. 106

also released a recording of the song in 1983 under the title "Hero". Their version peaked at No. 64 on ''Billboard''s Hot Black Singles chart while also reaching No. 23 on ''Billboard''s Adult Contemporary chart. Singer

released a country version of the song in 1983. Morris's version of the song peaked at No. 4 on ''Billboard''s Hot Country Singles chart and later won both the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country music ...

and the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...

awards for Song of the Year.

Lou Rawls version

was the first to land the song on a music chart in the US. The up-tempo version by Rawls was released in March 1983 on Epic 34-03758. It was backed with "Midnight Sunshine". It appeared on his album, ''When the Night Comes''. It spent six weeks on the ''Billboard Hot'' 100 chart and on April 16, 1983, it peaked at no. 65. It also got to no. 60 on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

. Rawls once performed a twelve-minute live version of the song at a concert in Elgin, Illinois.

Charts

Gary Morris version

"Wind Beneath My Wings" was 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, ...

artist

and reached the Top 10 of the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles 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 ...

chart. It was named Song of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.

Charts

Bette Midler version

"Wind Beneath My Wings" was performed by

for the soundtrack of the film ''

''.

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman (; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman. He wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics for the Broadw ...

, Midler's longtime music arranger, was already a fan of the song and suggested it to her when they were identifying songs she could perform during the film. The song was named Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the

Grammy Awards of 1990 The 32nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 1990, and hosted by Garry Shandling. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Performers * Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings * Gloria Estefan - Don't Wanna ...

. The song became a worldwide hit; it charted at No. 5 in the UK, No. 2 in Iceland, No. 4 in New Zealand, and No. 1 in the United States and Australia. Midler performed the song with the fictional character

Krusty the Clown Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (; ) better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown (sometimes spelled as Krusty the Klown), is a recurring character on the List of animated television series, animated television series ''The Si ...

on season 4 episode 22 of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' in 1993. In the days following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

in 2001, she performed the song live at the Prayer for America memorial service held at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

. In 2014, Midler performed the song following the annual in memoriam montage at the

86th Academy Awards The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. ...

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

editor Heather Phares said that Midler turned this "inspirational love song" into "an epic pop song". She also noted Midler's "demonstrative interpretation".

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' noted in his review of the ''

'' soundtrack, that "one is reminded of just how powerful a pop singer Ms. Midler can be when handed the right song and an arrangement that doesn't constrict her brash, larger-than-life personality." He added that "the most effective numbers are dramatic ballads" like "Wind Beneath My Wings". A reviewer from ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People ...

'' wrote that the song "articulates the movie's theme of enduring friendship, and Midler's heartfelt delivery conveys the message a lot more succinctly and satisfyingly than the film." ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'' noted that the song, "a cabaret favourite for several years now", has been "given a new lease of life because it has been recorded by Bette Midler." John Louie from ''

The Stanford Daily ''The Stanford Daily'' is the student-run, independent daily newspaper serving Stanford University. ''The Daily'' is distributed throughout campus and the surrounding community of Palo Alto, California, United States. It has published since the U ...

'' called it a "sweet, melodious ballad".

Music video

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 ...

for "Wind Beneath My Wings" was made in black-and-white. It opens with a light-haired girl meeting a lonely dark-haired girl under the dock on a beach. They befriend each other and walk along the beach together. Occasionally throughout the video, Midler performs on a stage, dressed in a black dress and long curly hair. Her arms are crossed. The girls dance on the beach until the dark-haired finds a long stick, which she writes in the sand with. The light-haired girl continues to dance alone. Toward the end, the dark-haired girl drops to the sand and starts digging in it. She finds a doll buried in the sand and pushes it to her chest. As the video ends, the light-haired girl goes beyond the horizon.

Track listings

* 7-inch, US (Atlantic 7-88972) * Cassette, US (Atlantic 4-88972) * Mini-CD, Japan (Atlantic 09P3-6159) # "Wind Beneath My Wings" – 4:54 # "Oh Industry" – 4:05 * 7-inch, UK (Atlantic A8972) # "Wind Beneath My Wings" (edit) # "Oh Industry" * 12-inch, UK (Atlantic A8972T) * Mini-CD, Germany (Atlantic A8972CD) # "Wind Beneath My Wings" # "Oh Industry" # "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" * 1996 CD, Germany (Atlantic 7567 85481 2) # "Wind Beneath My Wings" # "

From a Distance "From a Distance" is a song written in 1985 by American singer-songwriter Julie Gold. Gold was working as a secretary at the time for HBO and writing songs in her free time. Gold's friend, Christine Lavin, introduced the song to Nanci Griffith, ...

" # "

In My Life "In My Life" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It appeared on their 1965 album '' Rubber Soul''. Its lyrics were written primarily by John Lennon, credited to Lennon–McCartney. George Martin contributed the piano solo bridge. ...

" # "To Deserve You"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Other versions

In the 1990s, two English actor/singers released their versions as singles.

Bill Tarmey Bill Tarmey (born William Piddington; 4 April 1941 – 9 November 2012) was an English actor and singer, best known for playing Jack Duckworth in the soap opera '' Coronation Street''. First appearing in the role in November 1979, he played ...

's version in 1993, from his debut album ''A Gift of Love'', reached No. 40 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 ...

, while Steven Houghton's version from his self-titled debut album, reached No. 3 in 1997 and No. 21 in Ireland.

Idina Menzel Idina Kim Menzel ( ; ; born May 30, 1971) is an American actress and singer. Particularly known for her work in musicals on the Broadway stage and having achieved mainstream success across stage, film and music, Menzel has garnered the honorif ...

sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" as a duet with

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...

at her successful audition for the 2013 film '' Frozen''. She sang it again for the 2017 film ''

'', a remake of the same film in which Bette Midler's version of the song debuted. In the 11th episode of the ninth season of ''

Impractical Jokers ''Impractical Jokers'' is an American hidden camera Reality television#Hidden cameras, reality show with improvisational elements. Produced by NorthSouth Productions, ''Impractical Jokers'' premiered on truTV on December 15, 2011 starring the m ...

'', "Breaking Wind Beneath My Wings", former Joker

Joe Gatto Joseph Anthony Gatto Jr. (born June 5, 1976) is an American improvisational comedian, actor, and producer from the New York City borough of Staten Island. He was a member of the Tenderloins, a comedy troupe consisting of Sal Vulcano, James Mu ...

is forced to sing the song poorly in front of a

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

conference as a punishment.

References

{{Authority control 1982 songs 1982 singles 1983 singles 1988 singles 1989 singles 1980s ballads Atlantic Records singles Pop ballads Gary Morris songs Colleen Hewett songs Bette Midler songs Sheena Easton songs Gladys Knight & the Pips songs Lou Rawls songs Patti LaBelle songs Bill Tarmey songs Steven Houghton songs Song recordings produced by Ron Haffkine Song recordings produced by Arif Mardin Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Grammy Award for Record of the Year Grammy Award for Song of the Year Songs written by Larry Henley Song recordings produced by Jimmy Bowen Warner Records singles Songs written by Jeff Silbar Epic Records singles Black-and-white music videos