"Where Love Lives " is a 1990 song by the British singer Alison Limerick. It was her first solo-debut and a huge club hit in the early 1990s in both the United Kingdom and United States. In 1991, the single peaked at number 27 in the UK and number 3 on the BillboardHot Dance Club Play chart in the US. In 1996, the song was released in a new remix and peaked at number 9 in the UK and number 4 on the dance chart in the US. The track is famous for the funked-up piano intro and remains Limerick's most successful release. It is widely regarded as one of the biggest club anthems, and has been remixed and re-released several times.
Background and release
Alison Limerick began her music career in the musical Labelled with Love and as a backing vocalist in the mid-80s after attending the London Contemporary School of Dance. Her first major gig was backing vocals on Style Council's Shout to the Top! in 1984. She appeared in musicals including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express and Simon Callow’s The Pajama Game. And in 1989 she made a brief appearance as an African sorceress in Bob Rafelson's film Mountains of the Moon. Swedish producer and songwriter Lati Kronlund picked Alison Limerick to record "Where Love Lives", after seeing her singing at a show at the ICA in London. She performed Billie Holiday’s 1941 classic God Bless The Child and Kronlund was in the audience. He told her that "Where Love Lives" was her song to sing because it required someone with a big two-octave range. The track is written/produced by Lati Kronlund and mixed by David Morales and Frankie Knuckles. The 1990 single was named just as "Where Love Lives", but when re-released in 1991 it got named "Where Love Lives ". It is the first single from her debut albumAnd Still I Rise, which was released in March 1992. That year Limerick also won the Best Female Artist Award at 1992’s DMC Awards. In 1996 Arista released the Alison Limerick 'Club Classics', a remix album. From this release "Where Love Lives" again topped the dance charts with "Make It On My Own" following. For the first time "Where Love Lives" was released in America and it reached number 4 in the Billboard Hot Dance 100 Chart. In 2003, "Where Love Lives" appeared on the charts yet again thanks to new remixes, reaching #16 on the Billboard dance charts and #44 on the UK pop chart. In 2016, Alison Limerick joined music collective Brooklyn Funk Essentials as lead singer and together they released a new version of "Where Love Lives" via Dorado Records in 2018. Lati Kronlund, who co-started the collective commented on the re-recording of "Where Love Lives":
Critical reception
Aftonbladet called the song "eminent". David Taylor-Wilson from Bay Area Reporter commented, "What a great song. The vocals are fierce and that piano accompaniment digs right into you."
Music video
A music video was made for "Where Love Lives", directed by James Hyman. The 1996 video version used the same video as the original, but was edited in a different way to accompany the remix. The music video features Limerick performing with dancers moving both in front of and behind a bright backdrop, making shadow-dancing silhouettes. Sometimes they are also seen dancing in front of mirrors. Sometimes she's dressed in a purple suit with a purple caps. Other times she wears a glittery metal dress.
Impact and legacy
Mixmag ranked the song number one in its 100 Greatest Dance Singles Of All Time list in 1996, adding: DJ Magazine ranked it number 9 in their list of Top 100 Club Tunes in 1998. In BBC Radio’s 2008 listeners & DJs poll The Greatest Ever Dance Record, "Where Love Lives" came in at #5 after Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", James Brown's "Sex Machine", Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" and Derrick May's "Strings of Life". DJ Mag included "Where Love Lives" in their list of the Top 100 Most Important House Tracks in 2011. MTV Dance placed "Where Love Lives" at #58 in their list of The 100 Biggest 90's Dance Anthems Of All Time in November 2011. After the passing of Frankie Knuckles in 2014, Barry Walters of NPR music wrote: Time Out`s 2015 list of The 20 Best House Tracks Ever included "Where Love Lives" as #14, adding: Irish DJ Dean Sherry put the song at number 3 in his list of All-time favourite 10 old skool dancefloor bangers in 2019.
Accolades
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Chart performances
Upon its first release in 1990, "Where Loves Lives" failed to make an impact in the UK Singles Chart when it peaked at number 87. However, after becoming a successful club hit, a re-release some months later in 1991 ensured the song entered the UK Top 30 when it peaked at number 27. Another release in 1996, remixed by Dancing Divas, was even more successful when it peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart becoming Limerick's highest charting hit. Another remix in 2003 peaked at number 44. The song was also a dance/club hit in the United States, peaking at number 3 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play in 1991. In 1996, a new remix peaked at number 4 and in 2003 another remix peaked on number 16 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart.
MDA sampled the song in the track "Take an E " in 1991. 1st Prodject sampled it in 1992, in the track "Right Before ". DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer sampled it in the 1993 track "In Effect ". British singer Danny Litchfield covered "Where Love Lives" on his 2010 album Soul. K & K sampled "Where Love Lives" in the track "Peaceful Crowd" in 2016.
