Surprising Real Reason ‘Friends and Lovers’ Became A Hit On Days of our Lives

Long-time Days of our Lives fans likely remember Liz Chandler singing “Friends and Lovers” on the soap. The song went on to become a number-one hit for Gloria Loring and Carl Anderson. The song served as the theme song for Kimberly and Shane.

Hit Idea

Loring recently reprised her role on DAYS in celebration of the soap’s amazing 15,000th episode and the funeral for Doug Williams (Bill Hayes). The actress told Soap Opera Digest about how the single came about. Loring was friends with former DAYS writer Beth Milstein. One time, Loring expressed her sadness over not having a hit record and becoming known as a soap star instead of a singer.

MORE: Find out what Gloria Loring loved most about her return to DAYS.

Milstein wondered how the dream of a hit song could become a reality for Loring. “I sat and I thought and said, ‘Well, if I could find a really great song and start singing it on the show… I mean, we have 10 million viewers, and if they liked it enough, maybe we could do it again. And maybe if we got enough response, I could go to a record company and whatever.’ The very next day Beth called me and said, ‘Gloria, I went to dinner last night with some of the producers, and they were talking about a song that was sent into the show. I’d like to play it for you.’ So she played me this song – ‘What would you think if I told you?’”

Loring instantly knew it was the beginning of a hit song. Starting the next week, Loring sang the song on DAYS, which ended up prompting a lot of fan mail. A person Loring was dating saw Carl Anderson in concert and suggested Anderson as Loring’s duet partner. The two recorded it, but unfortunately, every major record company turned them down.

READ THIS: Loring has a festive song, too.

“Finally, this small French company, Career Records, and this fellow [who worked there] said, ‘We’ll release it,’” Loring said. “And once it was released, it couldn’t be stopped! It just jumped up the charts and was a very big hit. Almost a million [sales], although not quite a million.”

The actress credited Milstein for getting the ball rolling on the special song, and she also said it was one of her favorite stories of her life. Do you remember “Friends and Lovers?” Let us know your memories in the comments below. Click on the video below to relive the beautiful love song. You can buy “Friends and Lovers” for yourself from Amazon.

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