You're the Inspiration

"You're the Inspiration"
UK vinyl single
Single by Chicago
from the album Chicago 17
B-side"Once in a Lifetime"
Released31 October 1984
Recorded1983–1984
GenreSoft rock[1]
Length3:50
LabelFull Moon/Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Peter Cetera, David Foster
Producer(s)David Foster
Chicago singles chronology
"Hard Habit to Break"
(1984)
"You're the Inspiration"
(1984)
"Along Comes a Woman"
(1985)
Music video
"You're the Inspiration" on YouTube

"You're the Inspiration" is a song written by Peter Cetera and David Foster for the group Chicago and recorded for their fourteenth studio album Chicago 17 (1984), with Cetera singing lead vocals. The third single released from that album, it reached No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1985 and also climbed to the top position on the Adult Contemporary chart at the same time.[2] The song won honors for Foster and Cetera from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), in 1986 in the most-performed songs category.[3]

Peter Cetera re-recorded the song for his 1997 solo album You're the Inspiration: A Collection.[4] That same year he also recorded a single version with the vocal R&B group Az Yet.[4][5]

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Chicago – The Collection". AllMusic. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 55.
  3. ^ "ASCAP Awards Ceremony". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 24. June 14, 1986. p. 79. Retrieved March 6, 2019 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ a b Taylor, Chuck (July 12, 1997). "For former Chicago crooner Cetera, making hits is a hard habit to break". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 28. p. 85. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  5. ^ Bronson, Fred (October 25, 1997). "Chart Beat: Jackson Lassoes No. 1 With 'Rope'". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 43. USA. p. 102. Retrieved February 21, 2017.