When I'm with You
| "When I'm with You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Sheriff | ||||
| from the album Sheriff | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released |
May 1983 February 1989 | |||
| Format | 45 record, cassette single | |||
| Recorded | 1982 | |||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||
| Length | 3:58 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Arnold Lanni | |||
| Producer(s) | Stacy Haydon | |||
| Sheriff singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"When I'm with You" is a power ballad by Canadian arena rock band Sheriff. The song first appeared on Sheriff's self-titled debut album (the group's only album, to date), released in 1982. A top ten hit in Canada in 1983 (and a minor US hit at the same time), the song later hit #1 in the United States—in 1989, four years after the band separated in 1985.
This song is also notable that it was one of the few #1 hits not to have a promotional video during the MTV era. The song is featured in the movies Goon and Joe Dirt.
Composition and inspiration
Sheriff's keyboardist Arnold Lanni wrote the song after meeting Valeri Brown and falling in love with her. 'I sat down, put my coffee on the piano, tinkled some ivories, and four minutes later 80 percent of the song was written. On Valentine's Day I played the song for Valerie and said, "I don't have anything, this is all I can give you right now. It's yours." Valeri loved the song; two years later she married me.'[1]
Lanni also played the song to his bandmates in Sheriff. "The band really liked it, so we started playing it live. That was one of the last songs we recorded when we did the record. The producer said, 'Is there anything else?' I said, 'There's this song we play, it's kind of a wimpy song.' So we played it for him and he said 'Yeah, that's kind of nice.'"
Chart performance
"When I'm with You" was originally released as the third single off Sheriff's debut album. The song reached #8 on the RPM charts in the band's native Canada, where it was their biggest hit. In the US, it entered the Billboard Hot 100 on May 14, 1983, and peaked at #61 four weeks later. Sometime thereafter, disappointed and frustrated by their continued lack of international success, the band broke up.
In November 1988, Brian Philips, Program Director at KDWB in Minneapolis, and WKTI in Milwaukee began playing the song, and eventually other radio stations nationally followed suit. This encouraged Capitol Records to re-release the song as a single. On February 4, 1989, "When I'm with You" hit #1 in the United States.
By that time, former Sheriff members Lanni and bassist Wolf Hassell had formed a duo named Frozen Ghost, and declined to re-form the group. Sheriff's lead vocalist Freddy Curci and guitarist Steve DeMarchi, who had both been working as couriers in the interim,[2] subsequently formed the band Alias and charted the following year with the #2 hit "More Than Words Can Say".
Charts
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 61 |
| Chart (1989-1990) | Peak position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1[3] |
References
- ↑ Billboard Magazine interview of Arnold Lanni by Fred Bronson.
- ↑ Behind The Vinyl "When I'm With You" by Sheriff, Freddy Curci and Steve DeMarchi @YouTube.com Retrieved 5-12-2017.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 220.
- Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6.
- "Billboard". Billboard Hot 100 airplay and sales charts. Retrieved June 11, 2006.