During this week back in 1978, "You Needed Me" by Canadian singer, Anne Murray topped the U.S. pop chart. While this touching ballad was hardly her first appearance in America as she had reached the country chart several times and had a top-ten pop hit previously with "Songbird" in 1970, this was seen as a comeback for Murray and the song became the biggest hit of her career, even making it to the top-forty in the UK and the Netherlands.
Murray was born and raised in the coal-mining town of Springhill, Nova Scotia. As a young girl, she became interested in music, learning the piano and taking singing lessons. She performed in talent shows at high school but went to college and studied physical education. After graduation, Murray later taught PE at a high school for a year.
In 1966, Murray was encouraged to audition for a part in a CBC variety program, "Singalong Jubilee" and won a spot on the show. Brian Ahern, the musical director of the series, took an interest in the career of the young singer and together they went to Toronto to record her first album.
The album, "What About Me" was released in 1968 and became a modest success in Canada. But it was Murray's second album, "This Way is My Way" the following year with the top-ten single, "Snowbird" that helped propel her to international acclaim. Other hits followed that appeared on both the pop and country charts including "Danny's Song", "Cotton Jenny", "Shadows In The Moonlight", "Walk Right Back" and covers of the Beatles' "You Won't See Me" and the Monkees' "Daydream Believer".
Murray would go on to receive a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "You Needed Me". She has been cited as being an important musical artist who helped pave the way for other female Canadian singers like k.d. lang, Céline Dion and Shania Twain to achieve pop success on a global scale. Murray pretty much retired back in 2008 when she released her last studio album, "Duets: Friends & Legends" and went on a Coast to Coast: One Last Time world tour to support the record and say farewell to her fans.
Here is Anne Murray performing live her number one hit on a Johnny Cash television Christmas special:
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