B-side "Woman" Recorded 1984 Length 5:02 | Format 7", 12" Genre Pop rock | |
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Released November 1984 (US),
25 February 1985 (UK) | ||
"Easy Lover" is a hit song performed by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins and written by Bailey, Collins and Nathan East. The song appeared on Bailey's solo album Chinese Wall. Collins has performed the song in his live concerts and it appears on his 1990 album Serious Hits... Live!, as well as his 1998 compilation album, ...Hits.
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The song was a No. 1 hit in several countries worldwide, including Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In the U.S. it reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 February 1985, kept out of the top spot for two weeks by "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. In the UK Singles Chart it reached No. 1, staying there for four weeks. The single was certified gold in the UK. The single sold over a million copies in the U.S. and was certified gold, as the RIAA requirement for a platinum single disc was not lowered to 1 million units until 1989. In addition, "Easy Lover" has been certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of over 400,000 in the UK and platinum in Canada by Music Canada.
"Easy Lover" won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Overall Performance in a Video in 1985 and was Grammy nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals in 1986.
The lighthearted video for the song was filmed in London, England and is a music video about the making of a music video.
Electric Six covered the song on their cover album Mimicry and Memories (2015).
Background
In 1984 Phil Collins was hired as the producer for Chinese Wall. According to Phil Collins, he was approached by Philip Bailey at the end of the sessions for the album, who asked him to write a song together. In a 2016 interview Collins said of the song: "So we just started having a jam one night, and went round and round and turned it into a verse and a chorus. We recorded it that night so we wouldn't forget it. That song doesn't sound like any particular era. It's just fantastic."
Reception
Rolling Stone critic Ross Database stated that the song "formed the basis of the soundtrack of my youth... nothing ever came close to the easy danceability of Easy Lover."