1982 No. 1, Joe Cocker's Blockbuster Duet He Initially 'Hated,' Topped The Charts 44 Years Ago Today

There was a lot of concern that the theme song for the tear-jerker "An Officer and a Gentleman" would end up too sweet. The film's director had the demo for "Up Where We Belong" in hand, but first rejected the idea of using singer Jennifer Warnes. As Billboard reported, he worried her sound was too sweet. The proposed solution? Add the unique gritty voice of Joe Cocker to balance out the sweetness. Cocker, though, wasn't initially sold on the idea. He admitted to Elsewhere that "at first I didn't want to record it, I hated it because it was so sweet." 

Still, he saw it as a challenge worth accepting. And he conquered it. Too sweet or not, "Up Where We Belong" became a chart-topping movie theme song, spending three weeks at No. 1 in November 1982. The song's success didn't surprise Cocker. Even though he first hated "Up Where We Belong," Cocker told The Guardian that he could tell "it was going to be a big record" as soon as they began recording it. The duet became his only No. 1 hit in America, and the song went on to win a Golden Globe, a Grammy, and an Academy Award. Not bad for a song that nearly got rejected for being too sweet.

On paper, Cocker's growl and Warnes' angelic voice looked like a mismatch for a love song. Cocker was a raspy British blues-rock singer who had performed at Woodstock and experimented with everything from ballads to black acid (he told The Guardian, "it was a very dark trip"). Warnes, meanwhile, had a pure voice that sounded like it belonged somewhere considerably closer to the pearly gates. Raised in California, she grew up singing in church, trained in opera, collaborated with Leonard Cohen, and explored everything from movie soundtracks to modern-day hymns.

Even Warnes herself acknowledged the musical combination seemed a little peculiar. In a tribute published by Billboard after Cocker died in 2014, she said, "I agree that the pairing of a rough Sheffield blues guy with a folkie-pop girl seemed odd." But that unlikely pairing was a big reason the duet worked. Their contrasting voices complemented each other, and their chemistry went far beyond the recording studio.

As Warnes recalled in an interview with Songfacts, "I felt very alive being on stage with him ... We felt free to take chances. It was like being in Cirque du Soleil or something — a partner hoping they'll catch you. He always did and I always caught him. That's fun. That's the beauty of singing." Turns out, neither singer ever needed a safety net as they transformed an unexpected musical partnership into one of the defining duets of the 1980s.