1983 Lionel Richie – Running With The Night (US: #7 UK: #9)

“Running with the Night” was the second single released from Lionel Richie’s multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning 1983 album, Can’t Slow Down. Richie co-wrote the song with songwriter Cynthia Weil and co-produced it with James Anthony Carmichael.

The electric guitar solo on “Running with the Night” was played by Steve Lukather, best known as a member of the rock band Toto.  Lukather sat down in the studio and the engineer played the basic tracks of the song, for him to hear for the first time, so he could plan his part. As the music played, he jammed along on his instrument. At the conclusion of the tune, he said to the engineer, “okay, I’m ready for a take.” The producer replied, “That was a take.” Some adult contemporary stations edited out Lukather’s guitar solo. Singer Richard Marx added backing vocals on the track as a session singer; he had also lent his vocals to Richie’s “All Night Long (All Night)” and “You Are”.