"Endless Summer Nights" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Richard Marx released in January 1988 as the third single from his eponymous debut album. The song peaked at #2 on the U.S. pop and

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

charts.

Background and composition

"Endless Summer Nights" was a track from Marx's original demo tapes. It begins with a similar intro beat style as "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette. The lyrics were inspired by a trip to Hawaii that Marx had taken with his then-girlfriend (and future wife), Cynthia Rhodes. According to Marx, he wrote the song as a theme to summer love that does not last when lovers go their separate ways in the fall. In the liner notes of his 1997 ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

'' album, Marx commented on the song: "Aside from replacing synthesized bass with the great Nathan East, this recording is the demo that every record company in the business rejected in 1985 and 1986." Marx eventually signed with

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

Manhattan Records Manhattan Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group and operates as a branch of Capitol Music Group. Company history Manhattan Records was formed in 1984 by Bruce Lundvall and was later renamed EMI Manhattan Records af ...

in 1986.

Release and reception

Released in January 1988 as the third single from his debut solo album, "Endless Summer Nights" entered the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at #53, the highest debut of the week. In March and April, the song reached #2, where it stayed for two weeks. The single also peaked at #2 on the U.S.

chart, behind "

Never Gonna Give You Up "Never Gonna Give You Up" is the debut single recorded by English singer and songwriter Rick Astley, released on 27 July 1987. It is one of Astley's most famous songs. It was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, and was released as ...

" by

Rick Astley Richard Paul Astley (born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and radio personality, who has been active in music for several decades. He gained worldwide fame in the 1980s, having multiple hits including his signature song " Ne ...

. Elsewhere, the single reached #13 in Sweden, #19 in Australia, #42 in New Zealand, #50 in the United Kingdom, and #62 in the Netherlands. The woman in the music video is French model and actress Myrtille Blervaque (born September 1962). Also going by the stage names Blair Valk and Borovnisa Blervaque, she also appeared in the Eddie Money music video for his 1988 top-10 hit "Walk On Water". She got the name Myrtille, which means "blueberry" in French, due to her being a breech baby, as she was suffocating at birth and her face turned purple-blue. Myrtille was married to actor Sam Jones from 1987 to 1990. Jones played the title character in the 1980 film "Flash Gordon" and the title character in the TV series "The Highwayman" from 1987 to 1988.

Track listing

#"Endless Summer Nights" dit(Marx) – 4:11 #"Have Mercy" ive at the Palace in L.A.(Marx) – 5:30

Credits

* Richard Marx – lead and backing vocals *

Tom Keane Thomas Lawrence Keane (September 7, 1926 – June 19, 2001) was an American football cornerback. High school Keane played football and graduated from Linsly Military Institute in Wheeling, West Virginia (now known as the Linsly School) in ...

– keyboards * Michael Landau – guitar *

Bruce Gaitsch Bruce R. Gaitsch (; born February 7, 1953) is an American guitarist, composer, and producer. He is best known for working with notable bands and musicians such Chicago, Peter Cetera, Madonna, and Agnetha Fältskog as a session musician and songwri ...

– guitar * Nathan East – bass * John Keane – drums * Paulinho da Costa – percussion * Dave Boruff – saxophone

Chart performance

Year-end charts

Other versions

Soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

singer

Dorothy Moore Dorothy Moore (born October 13, 1946) is an American blues, gospel, and R&B singer best known for her 1976 hit song, "Misty Blue". Career Moore's parents were Mary Moore and Melvin Hendrex Senior. Her father performed under the stage name Melv ...

performed a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "Endless Summer Nights" on her 1988 album ''Time Out for Me''.

Smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...

Dave Koz David Stephen Koz (born March 27, 1963) is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, record producer, and radio personality based in California. Early life Dave Koz was born in Encino, California, to Jewish parents: Norman, a dermatologis ...

, who accompanied Marx on his first tour, included his rendition on his eponymous 1990 debut

solo album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

. Jawaiian trio Ekolu recorded a cover of the song on their 2009 album ''Ekolu Music II: Anthem''.

References

External links

"Endless Summer Nights" lyrics
{{authority control 1980s ballads 1988 singles Rock ballads Richard Marx songs Songs written by Richard Marx 1987 songs Manhattan Records singles