"All for Love" is a song written by

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and

Michael Kamen Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician. Biography Early life Michael Arnold Kamen was bor ...

for the soundtrack '' The Three Musketeers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''. It is performed by Adams,

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

, and

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-earth ...

. The

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. ...

was released as a

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...

in the United States on November 16, 1993. It was a worldwide hit, reaching number one across Europe, in Australia and in North America. Adams also did a live version in 1994 featuring

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numero ...

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fro ...

Nancy Gustafson Nancy Gustafson (born June 27, 1956, in Evanston, Illinois) is an American opera singer. She received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in 1978 and her M.Mus. from Northwestern University. She has appeared in numerous productions at venues bo ...

, and

Giorgia Todrani Giorgia Todrani, best known as Giorgia (; born 26 April 1971) is an Italian singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and radio host. Known for her soulful voice, aided by a wide vocal range, high belting register and great vocal abili ...

, who co-wrote the song with Adams, conducted the orchestra. In 2007, the Swedish band E.M.D. released a cover of the song, peaking at number one in their native country.E.M.D. version in Swedish charts
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Background and writing

The title was inspired by

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...

' motto: " All for one, and one for all".

Critical reception

Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated "All for Love" five out of five. He wrote, "With the minimum of formalities Bryan, Rod and

launch into their-threeway rendilion of this powerful

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 ...

from the movie ''

''. Their vocals blend well, and though the song itself is a trifle predictable, their combined fan base should be strong enough to send this hurtling into the Top Five in next to no time." Mark Frith from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' gave it four out of five, stating that it has "drama and powerful choruses on top. And it's got one of those searing guitar solos in the middle." He added, "Genius! Love or hate it, you can't deny the professionalism that will probably make this number 1."

Chart performance

In the United States, the single reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on January 22, 1994. It remained atop the charts for three weeks before it was knocked out of the top spot by " The Power of Love" by

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

. It sold 1.2 million copies domestically and earned a

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". Pla ...

certification from the

RIAA 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/ ...

. In Canada, the song reached number one on the RPM Singles chart on January 17, 1994, replacing Adams's solo hit "

Please Forgive Me "Please Forgive Me" is a song by Canadian rock musician Bryan Adams. It was released in October 1993 as the only single and bonus track from his first greatest hits compilation album, '' So Far So Good'' (1993). The single reached number seven on ...

", which had been number one for six weeks. With "All for Love" remaining at number one for five weeks, Adams was in the number one position for 11 straight weeks on the Canadian chart. In the United Kingdom, it reached 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 ...

. In 2007, the Swedish band E.M.D. released a cover of the song, peaking at number one in their native country. Bryan Adams would also do a French-language remake with Garou and

Roch Voisine Joseph Armand Roch Voisine, (born 26 March 1963) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actor, and radio and television host who lives in Montreal and Paris. He writes and performs material in both English and French. He won the Juno Award for Male V ...

, entitled ''Tous ensemble'', for the Quebecois film ''Il était une fois Les Boys''.

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– lead vocals, bass * Dominic Miller – guitar * Keith Scott – lead guitar *

Bill Payne William H. Payne (born March 12, 1949) is an American pianist who, with Lowell George, co-founded the American rock band Little Feat. He is considered by many other rock pianists, including Elton John, to be one of the finest American piano roc ...

– piano *

Ed Shearmur Edward Shearmur (also known as Ed Shearmur; born 28 February 1966) is a British film composer. Born in London, England, at age seven he sang in the boys' choir at Westminster Cathedral. Educated at Eton College, he studied at the Royal College ...

– keyboards * Mickey Curry – drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

E.M.D. version

On December 17, 2007, the Swedish trio E.M.D. released a cover of All for Love as their debut single. Debuting at number two in the official

Swedish singles chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish ...

, it hit the top position the week after—eventually staying there for six consecutive weeks (the original version topped the chart for 10 weeks). The single stayed on the charts for 17 weeks, and was certified 3x Platinum in Sweden.

Track listing

# "All for Love (Album Version)" - 3:10

Chart positions

References