Midnight Blue (Louise Tucker song)

"Midnight Blue"
Single by Louise Tucker
from the album Midnight Blue
Recorded	1982
Genre	Synthpop, classical
Label	Arista (US) / Ariola Records (Europe)
Producer(s)	Charlie Skarbek

"Midnight Blue" is the title of a 1982-3 international hit by Louise Tucker which served as the title cut for Tucker's debut album Midnight Blue. The single also features Charlie Skarbek on vocals.

In the spring of 1982 opera singer Louise Tucker met record producer Tim Smit when she accompanied his sister-in-law who'd come to babysit for him: this meeting led to Tucker recording the demo for the track "Midnight Blue" - which utilized the melody of "Sonata Pathétique" by Beethoven - with Smit and his friend Charlie Skarbek producing. ^[1] Smit and Skarbek successfully shopped the track to the Dutch division of Ariola Records and the finished track was cut at Chestnut Studios in Farnham.^[2]

"Midnight Blue" reached #13 in the Netherlands in November 1982. In December the track entered the French charts where it remained for 31 weeks reaching number 1 in the Christmas of 1983. At the same time Michèle Torr hit the French charts with a rendering in French by lyricist Pierre Delanoë entitled "Midnight Blue en Irlande" (#13).

Picked up by Arista Records for North American release, "Midnight Blue" first broke in Canada reaching #7 in April (going platinum) and entering the US charts in June to reach #46.

The track entered the UK charts about a year after its recording in April 1983: it failed to become a major hit peaking at #59. See Notes^{1 2}

In July 1983 "Midnight Blue" reached #6 in Sweden: that year the track also charted in Australia (#27), Denmark (#1) and Germany (#51). ^{[3] [4]}

According to Smit the sales of the "Midnight Blue" single and the resultant Midnight Blue album totaled seven million. ^[1]

References

1. independent.co.uk article "my-first-job-tim-smit"
2. chartarchive.org for the UK 1983-04-23
3. Louise Tucker - Midnight Blue - dutchcharts.nl
4. swedishcharts.com article on Louise Tucker/Midnight Blue

Notes

• ¹An instrumental version of "Midnight Blue" by Dutch trumpeter Pete Knarren charted in the UK in the same time period as Louise Tucker's version: Knarren's version - released on EMI - peaked at #80.
• ²The version by the group Dreamers was also a hit in early 80s.