"Look Away" is a 1988

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

by American rock band

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Written by Diane Warren, produced by

Ron Nevison Ron Nevison is an American record producer and audio engineer. He started his career in the early 1970s as an engineer on ''Quadrophenia'' by the Who and Bad Company's debut album. He eventually became a producer, working with artists including ...

, and with

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, musician, arranger, producer, and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the band Chicago from 1981–2009. ...

on lead vocals, it is the second single from the band's album '' Chicago 19''. "Look Away" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks in December 1988, becoming the group's second number one following " If You Leave Me Now" (1976) and "

Hard to Say I'm Sorry "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" is a power ballad written by bassist Peter Cetera, who also sang lead on the track, and producer David Foster, for the group Chicago. It was released on May 17, 1982, as the lead single from the album ''Chicago 16''. On S ...

" (1982). "Look Away" is Chicago's seventh song to have peaked at No. 1 on the

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 ...

chart as well as the No. 1 song on the 1989 year-end ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, even though it never held the No. 1 spot at all in 1989. This is because Billboard's year-end chart covers the charts as far back as late November of the previous year. The song is the band's only No. 1 single following the 1985 departure of

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera ( ; born September 13, 1944) is an American retired musician best known for being a lead vocalist and the bassist of the rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985, before launching a successful solo career. His ...

Production

According to drummer

Danny Seraphine Daniel Peter Seraphine (born August 28, 1948) is an American drummer, record producer, theatrical producer and film producer. He is best known as the original drummer and a founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted fr ...

, Chicago's manager Howard Kaufman suggested that the band bring in outside songwriting help. Kaufman recommended Diane Warren, who also composed the band's single " I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love," and producer

, who had worked with

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

on the number one hits " These Dreams" and " Alone." Warren wrote "Look Away" from the man's perspective and submitted a

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

to Chicago's management company. "Diane's demos always sound really good," Nevison said. "Her demos are always very simple, but they always have great vocal performances." Bassist

Jason Scheff Jason Randolph Scheff (born April 16, 1962) is an American bassist, singer, and songwriter. From 1985 to 2016, he was the bassist and one of the lead vocalists for the rock band Chicago; he is the longest-serving member in the bassist/vocalist p ...

remarked, "The songs that last for me are the ones I don't get at first," and added, "I remember hearing 'Look Away' and thinking it's okay, but not great. Thank God I'm not an A&R man." Before being submitted to Chicago, the song was one of two ballads offered by Epic Records to

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of Zander, Nielsen ...

, who chose " The Flame" instead. The track was also offered to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, but was turned down due to frontman

Joey Tempest Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson (born 19 August 1963), known professionally as Joey Tempest, is a Swedish singer best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Europe. He has written the band's great hits such as " The Final Countdown", " Rock the ...

's refusal to record material written by outside writers. The song featured

on lead vocals and furthered Chicago's shift towards de-emphasizing the band's

brass section The brass section of the orchestra, concert band, and jazz ensemble consist of brass instruments, and is one of the main sections in all three ensembles. The British-style brass band contains only brass and percussion instruments. They contain ...

compared to their earlier years. Scheff noted that with

having left the group and "making his own records, it was good for us to release some songs with a different sound (like) Bill's voice. Then we wouldn't be saturating radio with Chicago-sounding songs."

Reception

"Look Away" entered the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in September 1988 and reached No. 1, where it spent two weeks, in December. Champlin said he was unaware of the feat at the time. "Everybody said, 'I hear your song every day,'" he recalled. "I go, 'What song?' I was kind of oblivious to the whole thing, busy working on new stuff. That's what happens. As everybody else gets aware of what you're doing, you're usually about five or six tunes past it." The single was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in January and ranked No. 1 on the 1989

Billboard Year-End ''Billboard'' Year-End charts are cumulative rankings of entries in ''Billboard'' magazine charts in the United States in any given chart year. Several hundred Year-End charts are now published by ''Billboard'', the most important of which are t ...

singles chart. It also reached No. 1 on the

chart. Outside the U.S., "Look Away" peaked at No. 1 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, No. 10 in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, No. 15 in Sweden, and No. 20 in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. In 2018 a British man claimed he is the author of the song and launched legal proceedings.

Track listing

;7" Vinyl; Cassette

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 1988 songs 1988 singles Chicago (band) songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by Diane Warren Rock ballads 1980s ballads RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Ron Nevison Full Moon Records singles Reprise Records singles Songs involved in plagiarism controversies