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.

John Paul Young was born John Inglis Young 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. John Paul Young has recounted that life changing moment, ‘It was my friends who convinced me that I could be a singer. One weekend I rolled up and they were standing there with two bass guitars and an announcement that we were going to form a band. I immediately poo-pooed the whole thing because I’d just started my apprenticeship in sheet metalwork, and after paying off a car, no way was I going to be paying off equipment or anything like that so they said, ‘You can be the singer because you’re always singing and you don’t need any equipment’ – and I fell for it.’

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, which was when he began using the name ‘Paul,’ which was his Catholic confirmation name. Napier-Bell produced Young’s first single ‘Pasadena,’ which was written by Harry Vanda, George Young, (1946-2017) 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. On August 27th, 2009, John Paul Young was inducted into the ‘Australian Recording Industry Association’ (ARIA) Hall of Fame, and in 2012 he was awarded a ‘Medal of the Order of Australia’ (OAM) for service to the performing arts as a singer and songwriter, and through support for a range of charitable organisations.

The discography of John Paul Young includes nine studio Albums released between 1975-2006, and 37 singles released between 1972-2022, there is also one extended play, (EP) and nine official compilation Albums available. In Australia, on what is now the ‘Aria Charts,’ John Paul Young has had 12 top 40 hits, with ‘I Hate the Music’ from 1975, peaking the highest at Number 2, while ‘Love Is in the Air’ reached Number 3. In the UK his only top 40 hit remains ‘Love Is in the Air,’ which peaked at Number 5, and in America on the Billboard Hot 100, ‘Love Is in the Air’ is also his only charting song, making Number 7.

‘Love Is in the Air’ was the first of four singles released from John Paul Young’s fourth studio Album of the same name, from October 1978. The song was co-written, and co-produced by Harry Vanda and George Young, (no relation) both Vanda and Young had both been members of the Australian Rock/Pop band ‘The Easybeats’ between 1964-1969, (see also best songs 939) and wrote and produced all of the first five studio Albums of John Paul Young. ‘Love Is in the Air’ 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. John Paul 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.

John Paul Young’s early career was heavily boosted by his regular appearances as a performer and guest host on ‘Countdown,’ which was a weekly Australian music television programme that was broadcast by the ‘Australian Broadcasting Corporation’ from November 8th, 1974 until July 19th 1987. ‘Countdown’ was the most popular music program in Australian television history. It was broadcast nationwide on Australia’s government owned broadcaster, the ‘ABC,’ with a new episode being broadcast each Sunday evening, and then repeating it the following Saturday evening. In total there were 563 episodes recorded, which ran over 14 seasons, with the majority of studio performances on the show being lip synched.

‘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.’