Into the Night – Two Time One Hit Wonder
(I know, this video is a generic fan montage, so close your eyes and concentrate on the song)
Chart Success
“Into the Night” is a 1980 song by singer-songwriter Benny Mardones, re-released in 1989. It is unique for being the only recording to ever ascend and hit the top 20 on the Billboard Charts twice. This happened in 1980, and in 1989. Both chartings were the same recording, and in between fell completely off the charts.
Regional Hit
Being from Canada, I had never heard of that song when growing up in the 80s. It was mainly popular in the US. I recently heard it in one of those late night “buy all the hits” commercial and just couldn’t believe how good the song was (even from a 10 second clip). Mardones’ voice on this recording is very reminiscent of Journey’s Steve Perry, which was at the top of the chart around the same time. I have this theory that maybe this was a factor in its initial success. This was the era of the big male voices.
One Hit Wonder, But Still Tryin’
Right after the initial hit, Mardones was unable to capitalize on the first hit because of drug and depression problems. It’s a very sad story, but not uncommon in the music industry. Mardonnes is now an independent. In this interview, he mentions that he will never be on the same record label as Michael Bolton because they have similar voices. I dunno about that. If he had another great songs like this, I’m sure someone would make an exception…
