This Romantic 1981 No. 1, Recorded By Two Industry Powerhouses, Topped The Charts 45 Years Ago Today

"Endless Love" started as a bestselling novel by Scott Spencer. In the early 1980s, filmmakers were busy turning Spencer's book into a feature film starring Brooke Shields and needed a title song. What they got was much bigger — a duet performed by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross that would become one of the most successful movie theme songs to ever rule the pop charts. On September 3, 1981, the song "Endless Love" was still early in its nine-week reign as the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Endless Love" remains one of the most timeless love ballads from the 1980s. Big-name artists, such as Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross, have released covers, and Richie himself even revisited it in a duet with Shania Twain. The song's endless appeal has it turning up in everything from car commercials to "Friends," where Chandler and Phoebe attempt a pitchy rendition that proves "Endless Love" is a lot easier to appreciate than it is to sing well.

"Endless Love" wasn't originally written for Lionel Richie and Diana Ross. Actually, it wasn't written for anyone. Richie had been hired to write an instrumental-only theme song for the upcoming movie about young love. No vocals required. He came up with a simple melody without heartfelt lines like "... your eyes / They tell me how much you care" or "Two hearts that beat as one / Our lives have just begun." But even without the romantic words, the filmmakers seemed pleased.

That is, until they realized they needed a few lyrics so the young woman in the movie could sing them to her love interest. Richie obliged, but apparently he did the assignment a little too well. The filmmakers liked what he wrote so much that they asked him to turn it into a complete song and suggested making "Endless Love" a duet, and they had someone specific in mind — Ross.

Even after Diana Ross agreed, the duet still almost didn't happen: Ross was in New York, Lionel Richie was in California, and they both had full schedules. The unlikely solution was a 3 a.m. session at a small 16-track studio in Reno, Nevada. Ross was performing in nearby Lake Tahoe and agreed to record after her show. Richie could reach Reno with a two-hour flight, so he arrived early and checked into his hotel with plenty of time for a quick nap.

Unfortunately, deep sleep came a little too easily. Richie didn't wake up until the studio called to tell him Ross was already there waiting. Yup, Richie almost slept right through what would become one of the biggest singles of his career. Ross was understandably irritated with him showing up late, but thankfully, a little early-morning hiccup didn't stop them from creating one of the best soft rock duets of all time.