Wednesday's Flashback

Yvonne Elliman scored one of the biggest hits of the disco era in 1977 when she covered a Bee Gees song for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. If I Can’t Have You streaked up to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and firmly ensconced the Hawaiian born Elliman as a diva of the highest order. Despite the song’s disco beat, the groove has a unique pop sound to it that has kept it contemporary for more than thirty years. Radio still plays the hell out of this one.

Yvonne was unable to repeat the mainstream success of If I Can’t Have You, although she did reach the Top 40 a few more times after the monster hit that her signature song became. She continues touring and drawing huge crowds almost everywhere she goes. In Europe, the UK, and Australia she remains a top pop star. Here in the US people just can’t be still whenever this song plays.

In a clip from the 1978 Grammy Awards, Yvonne Elliman performs If I Can’t Have You before an adoring crowd. Something tells me this one will still popular in another thirty years.