"Since I Don't Have You" is a song written and composed by Jackie Taylor, James Beaumont, Janet Vogel, Joseph Rock, Joe Verscharen, Lennie Martin, and Wally Lester. It was first a 1958 hit single for the doo-wop group the Skyliners on the Billboard Hot 100. Country music singer Ronnie Milsap had a hit with the song in 1991. American hard rock band Guns N' Roses also had some success in 1994 with their version of the song which reached the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart.
The Skyliners version
Background
Taken from their self-titled album and released in late 1958, the single reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 7 on the Cash Box Top 100.[1] It was also a top five hit on the 1959 R&B chart.
Don McLean's 1981 rendition reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 on the Adult Contemporary chart.[5] In Canada, it peaked at number two on its AC chart.[6]
The song was covered by rockbandGuns N' Roses for their fifth studio album, "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993). This was Guns N' Roses' 18th single release overall, and the second single released from "The Spaghetti Incident?". The single was released in mid-1994, reaching No. 69 on the Hot 100 and the top ten in the UK. The music video features actor Gary Oldman – then a popular casting choice for Hollywood villains[15] – as a smiling demon who is constantly mocking singer Axl Rose. The video was the last to feature original members Duff McKagan and Slash as well as drummer Matt Sorum and rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke.
The Vogues remade "Since I Don't Have You" for their 1968 album release Memories: the track would also being included on the 1970 album release The Vogues Sing the Good Old Songs and Other Hits from which it was issued as a fourth single in December 1970 to reach #8 on the Billboard Easy Listening hit ranking, marking the Vogues last Top Ten appearance on a national chart.[34]
Released in 1978, the motion picture American Hot Wax, a biographical picture about one day in the life of legendary Rock and Roll DJ, Alan Freed, has a fictional character, named Teenaged Louise (a thinly veiled teenaged Carole King; played by Laraine Newman) who demonstrates at the piano one of “her” song-writing compositions, Since I Don’t Have You, to the astonishment of her parents.
Art Garfunkel reached No. 38 on the UK singles chart in July 1979 with his cover, while peaking at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the adult contemporary chart in the US.[35]
^"Archived copy". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 14 March 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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