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Take My Breath Away – Berlin

Los Angeles electro-pop band Berlin had struggled for hits for thirteen years until Terri Nunn returned to the group as lead vocalist and they met with Giorgio Moroder, who was assembling the soundtrack for the new Tom Cruise/Kelly McGillis/Val Kilmer  star vehicle Top Gun, and wanted Berlin to record his magnum opus, Take My Breath Away. covid17The band’s founder member, resident songwriter and keyboard player, John Crawford hated the demo he heard, and strongly advised against the group recording the song because “it was not their kind of sound, and as they hadn’t written it, they shouldn’t record it.” In what was a classic case of one person’s petty jealousies, insecurities, and selfish concerns about being deprived of record royalties on a song he hadn’t written, potentially denying the group high-level exposure on a great song, in a popular movie. It came as no surprise when the rest of the band and their record company Columbia, overruled Crawford and recorded with Moroder and his co-composer Tom Whitlock, but the band broke up soon after. The song took a month to take off, then it exploded globally, aided by the popularity of the movie, and Terri Nunn’s definitive lead vocals. It was a global smash hit, sold in excess of 2 million copies, and won both the Golden Globe and Academy awards for Best Original Song in 1986. The music video features scenes from the film Top Gun intermingled with Terri Nunn performing the song in blue coveralls, and her signature blonde/black hair, walking between parts of planes in a windy aircraft scrapyard at night, bandmates John Crawford and Rob Brill also appear in various scenes,but the live concert video is better, which is featured.

In biblical times this is how you may have taken your breath away.covid43

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