"I Want to Know What Love Is" | ||||||||
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One of artworks for international releases, including some European territories
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Single by Foreigner | ||||||||
from the album Agent Provocateur | ||||||||
B-side | "Street Thunder (Marathon Theme)" | |||||||
Released | November 13, 1984 | |||||||
Format | 7", 12" | |||||||
Genre | Soft rock | |||||||
Length | 5:04 (album/7" single) 6:23 (12" extended) 4:15 (some radio edits) |
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Label | Atlantic | |||||||
Writer(s) | Mick Jones | |||||||
Producer(s) | Mick Jones, Alex Sadkin | |||||||
Foreigner singles chronology | ||||||||
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"I Want to Know What Love Is" | ||||
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Single by Tina Arena | ||||
from the album In Deep | ||||
Released | August 6, 1998 (Australia) January 29, 1999 (France) |
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Length | 6:21 (Album Version) 5:34 (Australian Album Edit) 4:55 (Single Edit) |
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Label | Columbia | |||
Writer(s) | Mick Jones | |||
Producer(s) | Mick Jones | |||
Tina Arena singles chronology | ||||
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"I Want to Know What Love Is" | ||||
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Single by Wynonna Judd | ||||
from the album What the World Needs Now Is Love | ||||
Released | August 24, 2004 | |||
Length | 5:41 (Album Version) | |||
Label | Asylum / Curb Records | |||
Writer(s) | Mick Jones | |||
Producer(s) | Narada Michael Walden, Wynonna | |||
Wynonna Judd singles chronology | ||||
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"I Want to Know What Love Is" | ||||
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Single by Mariah Carey | ||||
from the album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel | ||||
Released | September 22, 2009 | |||
Format | CD single, digital download | |||
Recorded | 2009 | |||
Length | 3:27 (album version) 3:38 (radio/video version) |
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Label | Island | |||
Writer(s) | Mick Jones | |||
Producer(s) | Mariah Carey, C. "Tricky" Stewart, James "Big Jim" Wright, Randy Jackson (co) | |||
Mariah Carey singles chronology | ||||
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"I Want to Know What Love Is" is a power ballad by the British-American rock band Foreigner. It was released in November 1984 as the lead single from their fifth album, Agent Provocateur. The song hit number-one in both the United Kingdom and the United States and is the group's biggest hit to date. It remains one of the band's best known songs and most enduring radio hits, charting in the top 25 in 2000, 2001, and 2002 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Recurrents chart. "I Want to Know What Love Is" has continued to garner critical acclaim, and is listed as one of Rolling Stone Magazine's greatest songs of all time at #479. The song is also featured in a number of films.
I always worked late at night, when everybody left and the phone stopped ringing. "I Want To Know What Love Is" came up at three in the morning sometime in 1984. I don’t know where it came from. I consider it a gift that was sent through me. I think there was something bigger than me behind it. I’d say it was probably written entirely by a higher force.
Written and composed by Mick Jones, with an uncredited portion (somewhere between 5% according to Jones and 40% according to Gramm) by Lou Gramm, and produced by Jones and Alex Sadkin, "I Want to Know What Love Is" was the first single released from Foreigner's album Agent Provocateur (1984). The song features backing vocals from the New Jersey Mass Choir affiliated with the Gospel Music Workshop of America, Dreamgirls star Jennifer Holliday, and featured keyboard work by Thompson Twins frontman Tom Bailey. The choir also appears in the song's music video.