THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

447-John Paul Young-Love Is in the Air.

1978-Number 5 single.

Best Bit-At 2.48. Take a deep breath, inhale, and enjoy yourself.

John Inglis Young was born on June 21st, 1950, in Bridgeton, Scotland, at the age of 11 in 1962 he emigrated with his family to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. His first professional venture in to music occurred at the age of 17 when asked to be the lead singer in a band called ‘Elm Tree’ that had been formed by his schoolmates. It was the music producer and manager Simon Napier-Bell (see also best songs 171) who after hearing Young perform with Elm Tree then offered him a recording contract in 1971. Napier-Bell produced Young’s first single ‘Pasadena,’ which was written by Harry Vanda, George Young and David Hemmings (1941-2003) the song reached Number 16 in Australia in 1972.

It would be three years until Young would taste chart success again, this time with the Vanda/Young composition ‘Yesterday’s Hero,’ which he performed on the Australian music show ‘Countdown.’ The show chose Young as an experiment to see if they could make someone who was basically an unknown in to a megastar. Young would become a regular presenter of the show, and an on and off performer through until Countdown’s demise in 1987.

John Paul Young has released nine studio Albums between 1975-2006, and has achieved 12 top 40 hits in Australia. Two of his songs have made Number 1 in South Africa, while ‘Love Is in the Air’ remains his only hit in the UK or America. His first five studio Albums were all co-written and produced by Harry Vanda and George Young, (no relation) (1946-2017) both Vanda and Young had both been members of the Australian Rock/Pop band The Easybeats between 1964-1969 (see also best songs 939.)

‘Love Is in the Air’ was written and produced by Vanda and Young, and is the title track from John Paul Young’s fourth studio Album from 1978. The song was written to try to stay contemporary, and also to cash in on the current ‘Disco’ fad of the late 1970’s, John Paul Young has said,’We actually did ‘Love Is in the Air’ because we needed something for the German market. It was all electronic mania, all clicks and electric buzzes, so George and Harry gave it the treatment. Young performed the song on episode 148 of Countdown on April 30th, 1978. In 1992 the song was remixed for a more up to date sound, and chosen for the soundtrack to the Australian romantic comedy film ‘Strictly Ballroom,’co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann, the remixed recording peaked at Number 3 in Australia, the same position as the original version had in 1977.

‘And I don’t know if I’m just dreaming, don’t know if I feel safe, but it’s something that I must believe in and it’s there when I look in your eyes.’