Songwriters joined forces for ‘I’ve Never Seen the Likes of You’
This week in 1980: Government officials reported the U.S. jobless rate at 7% — the largest in three years; World Health Organization announced the worldwide eradication of smallpox; 32 people were killed near St. Petersburg, Florida, when a ship tore a 1,000foot section of a bridge, dropping a bus and four cars into Tampa Bay; and a singer from Friar’s Point, Mississippi, had his 56th hit record.
A lot of hit songs have been written through collaboration. And according to Bob McDill, Conway Twitty’s 1980 hit, “I’ve Never Seen The Likes Of You” was one of those tunes.
McDill said, “That song was Waylon Holyfield’s idea. He brought it to me and I helped him finish it. We had offices — all in a row — a bunch of writers down at Polygram Music and we would go in and out of each other’s office and trade ideas and try to work together and sometimes separately to try to come up with a song. And that was one of the songs that came out of some of that.”
Conway Twitty’s MCA single “I’ve Never Seen The Likes Of You” was released in May 1980, entered the country music charts June 28, 1980 and peaked at No. 6.
It was his 56th charted song and was on the charts for 13 weeks.
Conway (born: Harold Lloyd Jenkins) placed 98 songs on the country music charts between 1966 and 2004, including 40 No. 1’s. Nine of his 98 country chart songs also made the pop charts.
Conway was inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1999.
Conway Twitty died in 1993.
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