picked this one song, put it on Radio 1 and
boom, there it went.
“Within two or three weeks we were
fl ying over to do the Wogan show and Top
Of The Pops.”
The Way It Is reached No.15 in the UK,
then crossed the Atlantic to become the
most played song on American radio in 1987.
It topped the charts in the US and Canada,
helping to propel its parent album to sales
of more than three million. The song also
topped the chart in the Netherlands and
was a substantial hit around the globe.DON HENLEY
THE END OF THE
INNOCENCE (1989)
As co-writer,
co-producer and
pianist, Hornsby’s
DNA runs through
Don Henley’s US
No.8 hit as indelibly
as the lettering in a
stick of rock. The
gentle political
commentary,
sweetened by a
persuasive melody,
could easily have
been one of
Hornsby’s own hits
and unsurprisingly
became a staple of
his concerts.BONNIE RAITT
I CAN’T MAKE YOU
LOVE ME (1991)
As co-writer,
co-penned by
Nashville tunesmiths
Mike Reid and Allen
Shamblin, this gentle
soul-baring ballad
was a Top 10 hit on
America’s Adult
Contemporary chart
and has gone on to
become an evergreen
radio favourite,
thanks in no small
part to Hornsby’s
sensitive piano
accompaniment.
Now a gilt-edged
evergreen classic.NITTY GRITTY
DIRT BAND
THE VALLEY ROAD
(1990)
The music of Bruce
Hornsby And The
Range was dubbed
the Virginia Sound
for its mix of rock,
jazz and bluegrass.
The bluegrass
element was
emphasised when
he teamed with the
Nitty Gritty Dirt
Band for a banjo-
powered reworking
of his 1988 hit The
Valley Road on
Will The Circle Be
Unbroken Vol 2.CHAKA KHAN
LOVE ME STILL
(1995)
Hornsby’s melody
and Chaka Khan’s
lyrics proved to be
a match made in
heaven, as did his
piano playing and
her restrained vocal
on this delicate
ballad from the
movie Clockers. Khan
also joined Hornsby,
alongside Pat
Metheny, Béla Fleck
and the Grateful
Dead’s founder
Jerry Garcia on
Hornsby’s 1995
album Hot House.RICKY SKAGGS
SUPER FREAK
(2007)
For his ninth album,
Hornsby partnered
with country star
Ricky Skaggs for
Bruce Hornsby &
Ricky Skaggs. The set
included stripped-
down bluegrass
versions of some of
Hornsby’s old songs,
including Mandolin
Rain, plus some
traditional material.
The standout was
this hot bluegrass
cover of Rick James’
funk classic
Super Freak.Bruce Hornsby & friends
Five stellar collaborations...
a reissued Every Little Kiss (No.14) and
Valley Road (No.5), while 1990’s Across The
River topped the Canadian chart. Bruce and
his brother John also found time to pen the
Huey Lewis And The News No.1 Jacob’s
Ladder in 1987.MOVING FORWARD
For all his success in the 80s, however,
Hornsby looks back more fondly on the
music he made in subsequent decades.
“I’m defi nitely not someone who listens
to the old records and goes, ‘Oh, man, how
great I was.’ Frankly, I have a hard time
listening to my fi rst couple of records. I’m
not a fan of the singer who sang those songs.
I think my voice is much stronger now. It’s
more expressive. Just looser.
“I’ve been moving my music forward
since the third record – the last Range
record, A Night On The Town [the 1990
release that included Across The River]- and especially the fourth record,
Harbour Lights [his fi rst solo release,
in 1993]. I feel that’s when the music
got interesting.
“When I turned 40, in 1994, I
recommitted myself to the study of the
piano and took my playing ability to a new
level. It was most fully heard on the next
record that I made, called Spirit Trail, which
was a double album that a lot of my true
fans consider to be my best record.
“I wouldn’t argue with them. It’s full of
that split-brain, two-handed piano playing
that I couldn’t sniff at before.
“It’s complex. It’s not just a guy playing a
chord progression and singing over it,
which is what most popular music is.
Hornsby, however, was not entirely happy
in the spotlight. “I think I was pretty bad at
being a pop celebrity,” he chuckles. “I was
31 when the record broke and that’s late in
the game for the pop world.
“On one hand I handled it fi ne, because
I didn’t take it very seriously. We were
pranksters, fooling around. We felt like
idiots lip-syncing and you can see videos of
us on old Dutch TV shows where we were
just taking the piss out of the whole thing.”
The hits continued, more so in the US
than the UK, with Mandolin Rain (No.4),© Chris Van De Vooren/Sunshine/Shutterstock
Bruce Hornsby And The Range
in 1986, the year The Way It Is
was released