Whitney Houston "I Will Always Love You"

Whitney Houston never planned to cover Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" for The Bodyguard Soundtrack. Instead, she planned to sing "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", but reversed course when she heard Paul Young was doing a version for Fried Green Tomatoes. Since Houston had complete creative control over which songs made the movie, she resumed her hunt for a different song. Credit her co-star Kevin Costner for suggesting she choose "I Will Always Love You". The song went on to become one of the biggest hits of 1992 and 1993 -- spending an astounding 14 weeks atop the Hot 100 Chart. I still remember hearing the song at every school dance and on nearly every contemporary radio station in Chicago. The Bodyguard Soundtrack went on to be the best-selling soundtrack of all-time and, when Whitney died, Dolly Parton quoted lyrics from the ballad in praise of Whitney: "I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, 'Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.'" 

Zucchero & Paul Young "Senza una Donna (Without A Woman)"

Known as the "Father of Italian Blues", Zucchero Fornaciari released "Senza una Donna" in 1987. Upon its re-release in 1991, the song adopted English lyrics as well as English singer Paul Young. The song's lyrics seem to say "Scent of a Woman", but it's actually the song's title "Senza una Donna".

Mike + The Mechanics "Taken In"

You're hearing the voice of Paul Young singing lead vocals on the soft rock ballad "Taken In" by Mike & The Mechanics. Genesis co-founder Mike Rutherford created the band as a side project in 1985 and the group went on to score a handful of hits.

Paul Young - "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted"

The Fried Green Tomatoes Soundtrack included Paul Young's take on the old Jimmy Ruffin song, "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted".  It was one of Young's biggest hits--along with "Oh Girl" and "Every Time You Go Away".

Paul Young - "Oh Girl"

In short, the recipe for every Adult Contemporary hit song includes one or more of the following:

• A remake of an old song (preferably from the Motown era)
• A British singer (preferably Rod Stewart)
• Use of the saxophone (this rule was mandatory during the 1980s)
• A song that radio station Program Directors deem as "safe" for soccer moms 
• The song should be a ballad

In this instance, Paul Young takes a cue from Rod Stewart, Michael McDonald, and Hall & Oates for his take of the Chi-Lite's classic "Oh Girl".  The song went to (you guessed it!) #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1990.

Rod Stewart - "The Motown Song"

So many songs on Adult Contemporary radio stations take their cues from Motown.  Some artists simply covered Motown standards while artists such as Hall & Oates, Paul Young, and Michael McDonald all dipped their toes in the Motown sound with a genre known as "Blue-Eyed Soul".  In the case of Rod Stewart, he actually borrowed a couple of The Temptations for song properly entitled "The Motown Song".  The result: soccer moms across America rejoiced and proudly sang along while driving their kids to school in their Ford Tauruses.

Paul Young - "Everytime You Go Away"

Today's Adult Contemporary song comes from the request line and is for a shower curtain ring salesman named Dell Griffin.  What Thanksgiving would be complete without the John Hughes classic Planes, Trains & Automobiles?  This 1987 flick featured the song "Everytime You Go Away" as the credits rolled.  The movie used a version from a group named Blue Room whereas Paul Young made the song a hit in 1985.  To add further confusion, Hall & Oates actually first recorded the song for their Voices album in 1980.  Happy Thanksgiving!