"Lady" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Styx | ||||
from the album Styx II | ||||
B-side | "Children of the Land" | |||
Released | 1973 | |||
Format | 7" | |||
Recorded | Late 1972 | |||
Genre | Progressive rock | |||
Length | 2:58 | |||
Label | Wooden Nickel Records / RCA Records | |||
Writer(s) | Dennis DeYoung | |||
Styx singles chronology | ||||
|
"Lady '95" | |
---|---|
Song by Styx from album Styx: Greatest Hits | |
Released | 1995 |
Recorded | 1995 |
Genre | Hard Rock, Progressive Rock, Rock |
Length | 3:05 |
Label | A&M Records |
Writer(s) | Dennis DeYoung |
"Lady" is a 1973 rock ballad written and performed by the rock band Styx. It was first released on Styx II and was a local hit in the band's native Chicago, but initially failed to chart nationally. The song gained success shortly after Styx left Wooden Nickel Records to move to A&M Records in 1974 as it began picking up airplay nationwide, eventually peaking at #6 on the Billboard Top 40 in March 1975. The track was later re-recorded for the 1995 Styx compilation Greatest Hits due to a contractual dispute between A&M and Wooden Nickel.
"Lady" was written by Dennis DeYoung for his wife, Suzanne Feusi, the first song he ever wrote for her. DeYoung recounted to Contemporary Keyboard magazine for the January 1981 issue that the first time he ever played acoustic piano was when the band arrived at the recording studio to record "Lady" and saw the piano in the studio; DeYoung had written the song on an electric piano, but decided to try it out on the piano instead, and liked the sound so much that he switched to the piano for the recorded version. It didn't get much promotion and went nowhere until a DJ named Jeff Davis on WLS in Chicago rediscovered the song when he heard it on a jukebox at a pizza place on the north side of Chicago. Determined to make it a hit, Davis convinced management to let him play the song on his Saturday Night show, which had an audience in 38 states and a few foreign countries. The song became a major hit on the station, spending two weeks at #2 on the WLS survey, and was ranked as the 29th biggest hit of 1975 on their year-end countdown.
This is the only song from the band's four Wooden Nickel-era albums that is still performed live; all other material from those years has been long disowned by the band. Former lead singer Dennis DeYoung also performs the song regularly on his solo tours.
Lady '95 is a 1995 Styx re-recording of the 1973 song "Lady". It was rerecorded as a result of a contractual dispute between A&M Records and Wooden Nickel Records. It solely appears on A&M compilations, most notably "Styx: Greatest Hits", for which the song was rerecorded.