"Xanadu" | |||||||||||
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One of UK releases with pink vinyl
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Single by Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra | |||||||||||
from the album Xanadu | |||||||||||
B-side | "Fool Country" [Olivia Newton-John] (UK) "Whenever You're Away from Me" [Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly] (US), |
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Released | June 6, 1980 (UK) July 1980 (US) |
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Format | 7" single | ||||||||||
Recorded | 1980 at Musicland Studios, Munich | ||||||||||
Genre | Disco, pop | ||||||||||
Length | 3:28 | ||||||||||
Label |
Jet (UK) MCA (US) |
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Writer(s) | Jeff Lynne | ||||||||||
Producer(s) | Jeff Lynne | ||||||||||
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology | |||||||||||
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"Xanadu" | |
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Single by Kirsty K. | |
Released | August 1996 |
Format | CD |
Recorded | 1995 |
Genre | Dance |
Length | 3:30 |
Label | Central Station Records |
Writer(s) | Jeff Lynne |
"Xanadu" | ||||
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Single by Sharleen Spiteri | ||||
from the album The Movie Songbook | ||||
Released | February 2010 | |||
Format | CD Single, digital download | |||
Recorded | 2009 | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 3:34 | |||
Label | Mercury, Universal | |||
Writer(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Producer(s) | Sharleen Spiteri | |||
Sharleen Spiteri singles chronology | ||||
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"Xanadu" is the title song from the soundtrack album Xanadu, and is the title song from the 1980 film of the same name. The song is performed by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and Olivia Newton-John. Newton-John sings the primary vocals, with ELO frontman Jeff Lynne adding "parenthetic" vocals in the style of their other songs on the Xanadu soundtrack, along with providing the instrumentation.
The single reached number 1 in several countries, and was the band's only UK number 1 single, when it peaked there for two weeks in July 1980. The song peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
In early 1996, two Australian dance performers released versions of the song. Sydney singer Olivia Featuring Paula (on the MDS label) released a dance version first, followed by Kirsty K. (on Central Station Records). Both versions charted on the ARIA Singles and Dance Charts in the first half of 1996.
In 2000, ELO's Jeff Lynne re-recorded the song, with his own vocals, for the box set Flashback and the All Over the World compilation. Though it was billed as an ELO selection, the song was recorded by Lynne with Marc Mann on keyboards, but with no input from his former bandmates.
In 2009, Scottish singer-songwriter Sharleen Spiteri recorded the song for a second studio album titled The Movie Songbook which was released on March 1, 2010 worldwide. Xanadu was released as the lead single from the album in February 2010 and has so far made the BBC Radio 2 C-List.
A Music video for the song was added to Spiteri's official YouTube channel in February 2010. The video shows the Capitol Records Building and Spiteri performing the song with an acoustic guitar and one male and two female back up singers.