"Glory of Love" is a 1986 song by Peter Cetera written and composed by Cetera, David Foster, and Cetera's then-wife Diane Nini, and recorded by Cetera shortly after he left the band Chicago to pursue a solo career. Featured in the 1986 film The Karate Kid Part II, it was Cetera's first hit single after he left the band, reaching number one on the BillboardHot 100, and it was included on his 1986 album, Solitude/Solitaire, which Michael Omartian produced. "Glory of Love" peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 2, 1986, remaining in that spot for two weeks. It also spent five weeks atop the U.S. adult contemporary chart. Billboard ranked the power ballad as number fourteen on the Top Pop Singles of 1986, and number four on the Top Adult Contemporary Singles of 1986. The song achieved similar success in the UK, peaking at number three on the UK Singles Chart, where it was the 26th best-selling single of 1986.
According to Cetera, he originally wrote and composed "Glory of Love" as the end title for the 1985 film Rocky IV, but it was passed over by United Artists, and instead was used as the theme for The Karate Kid Part II. The single of "Glory of Love" and the accompanying video were released in May 1986, while the album, Solitude/Solitaire, was released within days of the release of the movie, The Karate Kid Part II, a month later. Upon its release, the song was often incorrectly credited as being performed by Cetera's former band Chicago owing to its similarity in style to many of the band's popular songs with Cetera as lead vocalist. The version released as a single and featured on Cetera's album Solitude/Solitaire is edited, missing the beginning eight-second section of the song's bridge which is heard in The Karate Kid Part II. Cetera performed a shortened version of the song live at the 59th Academy Awards ceremony, which took place on Monday, March 30, 1987 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Music video
The music video by Peter Cetera is set in a Japanese martial arts dojo, with cut and fade scenes of the movie The Karate Kid Part II throughout. The video was directed by Peter Sinclair.
Australian boy band North covered the song, which was released as their debut single from their 2004 self-titled debut album North, charting in a number of Asian music charts.
In 2000, the American band New Found Glory covered the song on their EP of soundtrack covers From the Screen to Your Stereo.
In 2010, Canadian artist Zameer released an acoustic version of the song on his album From Under the Bleachers. The single reached #73 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in Canada.
In 2011, the song was parodied by the Fringemunks as part of a medley that recapped Fringe episode 3.21, "The Last Sam Weiss."
In 2011, Canadian artist Karl Wolf greatly sampled on the song in his released single "Ghetto Love" featuring Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall. The single was released in Canada on Universal Republic. The music video for the release was by Director X and it was filmed in Jamaica.. The song reached No. 20 on the Canadian Hot 100. A French version also exists, but retains the English-language chorus.
The song "On the Line," which was on the B-side of the 45 rpm single, was from Cetera's eponymously named first solo album, Peter Cetera, which had been released in 1981. The single has not been certified gold or platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, although the record album that it appeared on, Solitude/Solitaire, has been certified both gold and platinum. The single came out at a time when sales of 45-rpm vinyl records were in rapid decline. One record company executive estimated that sales of the "Glory of Love" single was down by over a quarter of a million units compared to what it might have been a few years earlier. "Glory of Love" made its first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US at number 62, for the week ending on June 7, 1986, and debuted at number 59 on the Cash BoxTop 100 Singles chart that same date. In the same issue, Cash Box also shows the single as a new release.
