"Stay with Me" is a song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 co-written

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 by Jerry Ragovoy

Jerry Ragovoy

Jordan "Jerry" Ragovoy was an American songwriter and record producer.His best-known composition "Time Is on My Side" was made famous by The Rolling Stones, although it had been recorded earlier by Kai Winding and Irma Thomas...

 and George David Weiss

George David Weiss

George David Weiss was an American songwriter and former President of the Songwriters Guild of America.-Career:...

. It was first recorded

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 in 1966 by Lorraine Ellison

Lorraine Ellison

Lorraine Ellison was an American soul singer, best known for her recording of the song "Stay with Me" in 1966.-Life and career:...

, produced

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 by Ragovoy.

Ellison recorded "Stay With Me" at a last minute booking, following a studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 cancellation by Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

. With a 46-piece orchestra already hired, Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

 asked Ragovoy, with two days notice, to take over the session at no cost. Ragovoy and arranger Garry Sherman worked up an orchestral arrangement of the song, and called Ellison into the studio to record it live with the orchestra. The recording was engineered by Phil Ramone

Phil Ramone

Phil Ramone is a South-African violinist, composer, recording engineer, and record producer.-Biography:As a young child in South Africa, Ramone was a musical prodigy, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Queen Elizabeth II at age ten...

.

"Stay With Me" was issued as a single on the Warner record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. It entered the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 R&B

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 chart

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 on 15 October 1966, and reached #11; and peaked at #64 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

. Her follow-up single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 was "Heart Be Still" a minor hit

Hit single

A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...

 in 1967.

The track has appeared on numerous compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

s over the years, but 2006's Sister Love: The Warner Bros. Recordings contains all Ellison's songs.

Cover versions

"Stay With Me" has been covered

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 by numerous musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

s, including Bette Midler

Bette Midler

Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...

 in the film The Rose

The Rose (film)

The Rose is a 1979 American musical drama film which tells the story of a self-destructive 1960s rock star who struggles to cope with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager...

. Other versions include those by The Walker Brothers

The Walker Brothers

The Walker Brothers were an American 1960s and 1970s pop group, comprising Scott Engel , John Walker , and Gary Leeds...

, David Essex

David Essex

David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...

, Ruby Turner

Ruby Turner

Ruby Turner is a British R&B and soul singer, songwriter and actress. In 1967, she relocated with her family to Handsworth, Birmingham, England when she was nine years old...

, Rebecca Wheatley

Rebecca Wheatley

Rebecca Wheatley is a British actress and musician.Wheatley grew up in Teddington, Middlesex, where she went to St Catherine's convent school, before gaining her BA in English literature from the University of Wales, Lampeter....

, Genya Ravan

Genya Ravan

Genya Ravan, aka Goldie Zelkowitz is an American rock singer and producer. She is the former lead singer of The Escorts, Goldie & the Gingerbreads, and Ten Wheel Drive....

, Terry Reid

Terry Reid

Terry Reid is an English rock vocalist and guitarist. He has performed with high profile musicians, as a supporting act, a session musician, and sideman.- History :...

, Sharon Tandy

Sharon Tandy

Sharon Tandy is a South African singer who achieved somesuccess in the United Kingdom in the 1960s as part of the blue-eyed soul and freakbeat movements. In 1966, she recorded some songs at Stax studios, a rarity for a white singer...

 and Les Fleur de Lys

Les Fleur de Lys

The Fleur de Lys were a British band originally formed in late 1964, in Southampton, Hampshire, England. They recorded singles beginning in 1965 in the transitional Beat to psychedelic music genre, later known as freakbeat. The band had varied line-ups; only drummer Keith Guster was a member...

, Natalie Cole

Natalie Cole

Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...

, Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...

, Kiki Dee

Kiki Dee

Kiki Dee is an English singer with a career spanning more than 40 years....

, Shirley Brown

Shirley Brown

Shirley Brown is an American soul singer, best known for her million-selling single "Woman to Woman" which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1975.-Woman to Woman:...

, Whitesnake

Whitesnake

Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...

, Ronnie Montrose

Ronnie Montrose

Ronnie Montrose, is an Amercian rock guitarist who has headed his own bands as well as performing with a variety of musicians, including Sammy Hagar, Herbie Hancock, Van Morrison, The Beau Brummels, Boz Scaggs, Beaver & Krause, Gary Wright, Tony Williams, The Neville Brothers, Dan Hartman, Edgar...

, Michael Grimm, and Duffy

Duffy (singer)

Aimée Ann Duffy , known as Duffy, is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her 2008 debut album Rockferry entered the UK Album Chart at number one. It was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 2008 with 1.68 million copies sold...

. Duffy's version was the only newly recorded song on the soundtrack

Soundtrack

A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

 of the 2009 UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 The Boat That Rocked

The Boat That Rocked

The Boat That Rocked is a 2009 British comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis, with pirate radio in the United Kingdom during the 1960s as its setting. The film has an ensemble cast featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, and Kenneth Branagh...

, even though it was the original version that appeared in the film. The first four artists' versions all reached the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

External links

• Single details @ Discogs.com
• Song lyrics @ Lyricsbay.com
• [ Lorraine Ellison biography @ Allmusic.com]
• Soulbot.com Ellison fansite