IF YOU
LEAVE ME NOW
CHICAGO
SONGWRITER: PETER CETERA
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: CHICAGO X
LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS
GENRE: SOFT ROCK
YEAR: 1976
Chicago is
an American rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1967. The group was initially billed as The Big
Thing before calling themselves the Chicago Transit Authority in 1968, and then
shortening the name in 1969. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" blended elements of classical music, jazz, R&B, and pop music. They produced numerous
top-40 hits over two decades, and continue to record and perform live.
Growing out
of several Chicago-area bands in the late 1960s, the line-up consisted of Peter Cetera on bass, Terry Kath on guitar, Robert Lamm on keyboards, Lee Loughnane on trumpet, James Pankow on trombone, Walter Parazaider on woodwinds, and Danny Seraphine on drums. Cetera, Kath, and Lamm
shared lead vocal duties. Laudir
de Oliveira joined
the band as a percussionist and second drummer in 1974. Kath died in 1978, and
was replaced by several guitarists in succession. Bill Champlin joined in 1981, providing vocals,
keyboards, and rhythm guitar. Cetera left the band in 1985 and was replaced by Jason Scheff. Seraphine left in 1990,
and was replaced by Tris Imboden. Although the band's lineup
has been more fluid since 2000, Lamm, Loughnane, and Pankow have remained
constant members. Parazaider retired in 2017, but is still a band member.
The band's
first album, Chicago Transit Authority(1969), a sprawling double album filled with experimental rock songs,
initially failed to produce a hit single upon its release. Their second album,
another double album simply titled Chicago(1970) (later retroactively titled Chicago II),
continued with the format of experimental rock, and produced two top-10
singles, "Make Me Smile", which peaked at 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "25 or 6 to 4", which peaked at 4. Several
singles from the first album were subsequently released or re-released in 1970
and 1971, with two additional songs charting in the top-10. The band would
continue to produce hit albums based on the formula established with their
first two records until 1978, when Kath died of an accidental self-inflicted
gunshot wound. The band
changed sounds as the 1980s began, where Peter Cetera and producer David Foster took the band in a less progressive
direction, producing a number of soft rock and easy listening hits, including "Hard to
Say I'm Sorry"(1982)
from Chicago 16 and "You're
the Inspiration"(1984)
from Chicago 17, the band's biggest selling album in their
career. Cetera left to pursue a solo career in 1985, but the band
continued to produce hit singles under Foster's direction, including "Will You Still Love Me?"(1986), featuring lead vocals from new
bassist Jason Scheff, and the band's best selling single of all
time, "Look Away"(1988), with vocals by Bill Champlin. While the band failed to produce any hit songs
from the 1990s onward, they continued to release albums and tour, including
several highly successful co-headlining tours with fellow horn-based band Earth,
Wind, and Fire.
Their most recent album is Chicago XXXVII: Chicago Christmas from 2019.(…)
"If You
Leave Me Now" is a song by the American rock group Chicago, from their album Chicago X. It was written and sung by bass player Peter Cetera and released as a single on July 31, 1976. It is also the title of a Chicago compilation album released by Columbia Records
(Columbia 38590) in 1983.
The single
topped the Billboard Hot 100 on October 23, 1976, and stayed
there for two weeks, making it the first number one hit for the group as well
as hitting number one on the Easy Listening charts. "If You Leave Me Now" was also Chicago's biggest
hit internationally, topping the charts in other countries such as the UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, and Netherlands. In the UK it maintained the number one
position for three weeks. It was one of five "non-disco" songs to
make it to number one in the US in a nine-month period of 1976. According to
writer Zachary Houle of PopMatters, "The song was so pervasive on radio upon
its release that, reportedly, those tuning in in New York could hear the song playing on four
different stations, each with varying formats, simultaneously."
The song won
Grammy Awards for Best Arrangement Accompanying
Vocalist(s) (strings)
for arranger Jimmie Haskell and producer James
William Guercio and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo,
Group or Chorus,
the first Grammy Award won by the group. It also received a Grammy nomination
for Record of the Year. In addition, by August 1978 it had sold 1.4 million copies in the
United States alone. It has been certified gold and platinum by the RIAA. In an article from June 2020, The Guardian listed "If You Leave Me Now"
as number 73 on its list of "The Greatest UK No 1s: 100–1", noting,
"It’s impossibly lush and beautifully written, but its sadness is
pervasive and affecting."
In 2010
Chicago teamed with the American
Cancer Society and
offered the opportunity to bid on the chance to sing their hit, "If You
Leave Me Now" with them on stage live at their concerts, with proceeds
going to the American Cancer Society to fight breast cancer. The
fund raising effort has continued in succeeding years.
If you leave me now
You'll take away the biggest part of me
Ooh-ooh, no, baby please don't go
And if you leave me now
You'll take away the very heart of me
Ooh-ooh, no, baby please don't go
Ooh-ooh, girl, I just want you to stay
A love like ours is
love that's hard to find
How could we let it slip away?
We've come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way?
When tomorrow comes and we'll both regret
The things we said today
A love like ours is
love that's hard to find
How could we let it slip away?
We've come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way?
When tomorrow comes and we'll both regret
The things we said today.
If you leave me now
You'll take away the biggest part of me
Ooh-ooh, no, baby please don't go
Ooh, girl, just got
to have you by my side
Ooh-ooh, no, baby
please don't go
Ooh, my, my, I just got to have your loving (hey, hey).
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