"You Are" is the title of a popular song from 1983 by the singer-songwriter

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

. "You Are" was written by Richie and his then-wife, Brenda Harvey Richie. It appears on his self-titled debut solo album, which came out in 1982. It resumes where he left off with D-flat major tunes with Commodores' " Sail On" and "

Still A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been used ...

", and his solo effort " Truly". Released as the follow-up single to his number-one hit song " Truly", "You Are" reached the top five on three major ''

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 ...

'' music charts. On the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop chart, the song spent two weeks at number four in early 1983. It peaked at number two 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 ...

(behind "

Billie Jean "Billie Jean" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 2, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, '' Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Jackson and ...

" by Michael Jackson), and spent six weeks at number one on the

adult contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

. In the United Kingdom, the song reached number 43 on the British pop chart.British chart positions at Official Charts Company
/ref> "You Are" is a romantic song, although it has a more upbeat arrangement than many of Richie's slower

ballads 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 ...

, including a horn section. Before achieving popularity for his own music, singer

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American adult contemporary music, adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's Richard Marx (album), self-titled debut album went tri ...

was a studio musician who can be heard singing backing vocals on "You Are" as well as other songs from Richie's debut album. Richie re-worked the song as a duet with country singer

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single " Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

for Richie's 2012 '' Tuskegee'' album.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1982 songs 1983 singles Lionel Richie songs Motown singles Songs written by Lionel Richie Pop ballads Song recordings produced by James Anthony Carmichael {{1980s-pop-song-stub

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

See also

References