In 1960, "It's Now or Never" was a number-one record in the U.S. for Elvis Presley, spending five weeks at number one and the UK, where it spent eight weeks at the top in 1960 and an additional week at number one in 2005 as a re-issue, and numerous other countries, selling in excess of 20 million physical copies worldwide, Elvis Presley's biggest international single ever. Its British release was delayed for some time because of rights issues, allowing the song to build up massive advance orders and to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one, a very rare occurrence at the time. "It's Now or Never" peaked at number seven on the R&B charts.[7]
In the late 1950s, while stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, Presley heard Martin's recording. It is also likely that he was inspired to record this because of his fondness for Mario Lanza who had first popularized "'O Sole Mio" to American audiences and who had died the year before "It's Now or Never" was recorded.[8] According to The New York Times, quoting from the 1986 book Behind the Hits, "he told the idea to his music publisher, Freddy Bienstock, who was visiting him in Germany... Mr. Bienstock, who many times found songwriters for Presley, returned to his New York City office, where he found songwriters, Mr. [Aaron] Schroeder and Wally Gold, the only people in that day. The two wrote lyrics in half an hour. Selling more than 5 million records, the song became number one in countries all around and was Presley's best selling single ever... a song [they] finished in 20 minutes to a half hour was the biggest song of [their] career."[9]
Barry White credited this song as his inspiration for changing his life and becoming a singer following his release from prison.[10] In the promotional video for the Beatles' 1968 single "Hey Jude," the members of the band jokingly perform a few lines of the song.
Versions
A live version featuring "'O Sole mio" is available on the 1977 live album Elvis in Concert. "'O Sole mio" is sung by tenor Sherrill Nielsen, who was in The Imperials and later one of the collaborators of Elvis Presley.
In early 2005, the song was re-released along with the other Presley singles in the UK, and again reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart for the week of 5 February 2005. The re-release held the record for the lowest selling number-one single in UK chart history until Orson's "No Tomorrow" in 2006.[11] The song also appears in the TV miniseries Elvis, a 2005 CBS special.
In 2015, a new version of the song was recorded accompanied by new orchestral arrangement by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and was released on their album of that year If I Can Dream.
Chart performance
United States
"It's Now or Never" entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at No. 44 on July 18, 1960. After climbing to No. 14 and then a two-week stay at No. 3, the song climbed to No. 1 for a five-week stay, beginning August 15. In that same week, the B-side to the single, "A Mess of Blues" - peaked at No. 32 independently. During its run at the top of the US charts, "It's Now or Never" kept "Walk, Don't Run" by The Ventures at No. 2 before succumbing to "The Twist" by Chubby Checker on September 19. Presley fell to No. 3, spending a further seven weeks inside the top 40 before dropping out on November 14 (the same week that his follow-up, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", debuted on the chart). As an A-side, Presley's former bass player's group Bill Black Combo charted with their version of "Don't Be Cruel" around the same time.
United Kingdom
In the UK, the single gained an eventual release in late October 1960, following copyright discussions. It became the first song to enter the new Record Retailer charts at No. 1 - later adopted as the UK Singles Chart. During an eight-week run at the top, Presley was held off strong competition from Shirley Bassey ("As Long As He Needs Me") and The Drifters ("Save the Last Dance for Me") before claiming the coveted Christmas number one for 1960. A week later, he was deposed by Cliff Richard and the Shadows' "I Love You". Presley dropped to No. 2 and would leave the top 10 as "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" began its ascent to No. 1. After 18 weeks, "It's Now or Never" left the UK top 40 on 15 March 1961. Due to the single's delayed UK release, "A Mess of Blues" had already attained A-side status and peaked at No. 2 on 21 September 1960.
"It's Now or Never" would be one of several songs to return to the UK top 40 in the wake of Presley's death, reaching No. 39 on 3 August 1977.
On 5 February 2005, the song returned to the top of the UK charts for one more week as part of a week-by-week reissue series of his former chart-toppers. This gave Presley his 21st UK number one single, his fourth of the new millennium. Overall, "It's Now or Never" has managed 22 weeks in the UK top 40.
American country music singer and actor John Schneider released in 1981 a cover of the song as his first single and the title track of his debut album It's Now or Never. Schneider's version was a top five hit on the BillboardHot Country Singles chart and peaked at No. 14 on the BillboardHot 100.
Presley's version appears in a 2017 TV commercial for Jose Cuervo.
At the 20th anniversary concert of the Suntory Hall in Japan in 2006, Italian tenors Vincenzo La Scola and Giuseppe Sabbatini and American tenor Neil Shicoff sang a bilingual version of the song together. For their respective solo parts, the two Italians sang the original Neapolitan lyrics, while Shicoff sang two segments of "It's Now or Never"; and all three joined for the final chorus with the Neapolitan lyrics.[52]
^Murrells, Joseph (1985). Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s : an illustrated directory. Arco Pub. p. 145. ISBN0668064595. It turned out to be the biggest hit of his already phenomenal career; global sales were reported 20 million (five million in the U.S.A., one million in Britain, one million in Germant and the remainder from other countries, including Sweden and Japan)
