...and in that spirit:

Artist: (the other) Robert Knight
Album: single only version
Cut: "Everlasting Love"
1967 originally appeared on the Rising Sons label and later Monument Records





Session personnel included Carol Montgomery and Buzz Cason on background vocals and Kenny Buttrey on drums. Released in July 1967, "Everlasting Love" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on September 30 and peaked at number 13 on December 2 and at number 14 on the Billboard R&B chart. It is available on CD on Everlasting Love a Golden Classics Edition on the Collectables label. The sound recording is administered by [Merlin] Redeye Distribution.

The original version of "Everlasting Love" was recorded in Nashville by Robert Knight, whose producers Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden aimed to record him in a Motown style with especial reference to the Four Tops and the Temptations. Cason would recall how he and Gayden wrote "Everlasting Love" to serve as B-side for a song entitled "The Weeper", which they were to record with Knight. The night before the recording session for "The Weeper", Gayden stopped by Cason's home and, according to Cason, "as usual brought several melodies, riffs and grooves to work on", two of whose hit potential particularly struck Cason, who had Gayden combine these ideas into one melody. The writing session was abbreviated as Gayden had to go home for supper; Cason assured his partner: "I'll put some kind of lyric to it... Neither of us was too concerned as we just knew that 'The Weeper' would be the hit of the session." Cason believes he may have drawn the phrase "everlasting love" from the biblical verse Jeremiah 31.3 which begins: "Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love".

Ultimately "Everlasting Love" was released as an A-side for Knight and reached #13 in 1967. Subsequently the song has reached the U.S. Top 40 three times, most successfully by Carl Carlton, who peaked at #6 in 1974, with more moderate success for remakes by Rex Smith and Rachel Sweet (#32/ 1981) and Gloria Estefan (#27/ 1995).

Born in Franklin, Tennessee, Knight made his professional vocal debut with the Paramounts, a quintet consisting of school friends. Signed to Dot Records in 1960, they recorded "Free Me" in 1961, a US R&B hit single that outsold a rival version by Johnny Preston.

After this initial success, their subsequent releases flopped, resulting in a breakup of the group. They also broke their recording contract with Dot and were prevented from recording for 4 1⁄2 years. Knight attended Tennessee State University, where he studied chemistry and sang with the Fairlanes, a vocal trio.

In 1967, after Knight was seen performing with the Fairlanes in Nashville, Tennessee, he was offered a contract as a solo artist by the Rising Sons label. His first recording, "Everlasting Love", written by label owners Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, was a success, reaching number 14 on the US R&B chart and 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. This enduring song was an even bigger success in the UK the following year when a version by Love Affair reached No. 1, ironically preventing Knight's version from progressing further than No. 40 there.