"Woman in Love" song

"Woman in Love" is a song performed by Barbra Streisand and taken from her 1980 album Guilty.

The song was written by Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, who received the 1980 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. It is her fourth of four Platinum records, and is considered her greatest international hit.

After the success enjoyed by the Bee Gees in the late 1970s, the band was asked to participate in musical endeavors for other artists, and Streisand asked Barry Gibb to write an album for her. This album ultimately became Guilty. "Woman in Love", as the lead single, became one of the most successful songs of Streisand's music career. It reached the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Streisand's fifth (and last to date) number-one hit on that chart. It replaced Queen's big-selling hit "Another One Bites the Dust", spent three weeks at number one, and was itself replaced by "Lady" by country singer Kenny Rogers. It also spent five weeks atop the adult contemporary chart, her sixth number one on that tally. The song also proved very popular internationally, reaching number one in many countries, including on the UK Singles Chart. The song sold more than 2.5 million copies up to December 1981, according to Billboard. In 2023, American Songwriter and The Guardian ranked the song number one and number seven, respectively, on their lists of the greatest Barbra Streisand songs.

Music video

The music video for the song included clips from A Star Is Born, starring Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, and from other movies she made in the 1970s.

Personnel

• Barbra Streisand – lead vocals
• Barry Gibb – acoustic guitar, arrangement
• Pete Carr – lead guitar
• Richard Tee – keyboards, electric piano
• Harold Cowart – bass guitar
• Steve Gadd – drums
• Joe Lala – shaker
• Denise Maynelli – background vocals
• Myrna Mathews - background vocals
• Marti McCal – background vocals
• Jerry Peel – French horn

"Woman in Love" is the first demo Barry Gibb recorded for Barbra Streisand's album Guilty. This composition by the Gibb brothers Barry and Robin would become the album's very successful first single. It was due to this demo that Barry Gibb became the first male artist to sing the song, though it was originally recorded for Streisand to perform alone on her album.

Barry Gibb version:

• Barry Gibb – vocals, guitar
• Blue Weaver – keyboard
• Albhy Galuten – synthesizer, drum machine