Amigos Para Siempre

"Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life)" or "Amics per sempre" is a song written for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The music was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The lyrics, written by Don Black, are in English, except for the title phrase which is repeated in English, Spanish and Catalan.

This article is about song. For The Ten Tenors album, see Amigos Para Siempre (album).

Original version
"Amigos Para Siempre"
Single by José Carreras
& Sarah Brightman
Released1992
Recorded1992
GenreClassical crossover, operatic pop
Length4:36
LabelPolydor, Really Useful
Songwriter(s)Andrew Lloyd Webber
Don Black
Producer(s)Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nigel Wright
Sarah Brightman singles chronology
"Something to Believe In"
(1990)		 "Amigos Para Siempre"
(1992)		 "Captain Nemo"
(1993)

Sarah Brightman and José Carreras performed the song during the closing ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.[1] The duet was also released worldwide as a single to coincide with the Games, peaking at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and reaching number one in Australia for six weeks. It was one of two musical themes for the event. The other, simply titled "Barcelona", was sung by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé, and reached number two in the UK. Both appear on the compilation album Barcelona Gold, released to coincide with the Games.

A remixed version of the original, with less vocal reverb and modified balancing, was included on the compilation album Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now and Forever (2001).

Critical reception

Billboard described the song as a "Spanish-pop ballad" and noted further its "stately performances" by Carreras and Brightman, and the "dramatic orchestral arrangement". They also added that the Spanish-language version has lyrics co-penned by Cuban-American singer and songwriter Gloria Estefan.[2]

Track listing
  1. "Amigos Para Siempre"
  2. Live Opening Ceremony Barcelona Olympic 1992 Games
  3. "Amigos Para Siempre" (Spanish version)
  4. "Amigos Para Siempre" (Seat Anuncio 60 aniversario) – Marujita

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1992) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[3] 1
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[4] 44
Ireland (IRMA)[5] 16
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[6] 10
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[7] 7
Norway (VG-lista)[8] 10
Portugal (AFP)[9] 5
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[10] 36
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[11] 11

Year-end charts
Chart (1992) Position
Australia (ARIA)[12] 5

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[12] Platinum 70,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Cover versions

In Spain, the most famous rendition of this song was made by Spanish group Los Manolos with rumba arrangements and Spanish lyrics, except for the chorus. It reached number 3 in the Spanish charts.[13] In September 1996, it was later covered by Effie and Norman Gunston and reached the top 30 in Australia at the time.[14]

In one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group's concerts in Beijing, China, a Chinese version of this song was performed with approximately half of the lyrics in Mandarin and half in English. In this version, Amigos Para Siempre was replaced by "永远的朋友", which is "Friends Forever" in Chinese. A fully Cantonese version "友愛長存"(literally "eternal friendship") was sung by George Lam.

This song was also used for the Shanghai 2007 Special Olympic Games, performed again by José Carreras and a Chinese soprano.

On Sunday, 17 August 2008 at the Don Black 70th birthday tribute concert Lyrics by Don Black, Amigos Para Siempre was performed by Jonathan Ansell and Hayley Westenra. The evening took place at the London Palladium featuring performances of Black's songs by a selection of guest artists, hosted by Michael Parkinson and was recorded by BBC Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night and broadcast on Friday, 22 August 2008.[15]

It was the favourite song of Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001, and was played at his funeral in Barcelona in April 2010.[16]

In 2014, Katherine Jenkins and the Viennese tenor LASZLO[17] (Also known as Laszlo Maleczky) covered the song on the album "Katherine Jenkins" that was only released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In 2016, Marina Prior and Mark Vincent covered the song on their album Together.

In 2017, G4 covered the song on their latest album "Love Songs".

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References
  1. "Brightman & Carreras – Amigos para siempre, Friends forever – live". YouTube. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  2. "Single Reviews" (PDF). Billboard magazine. 8 August 1992. p. 72. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  3. "Australian-charts.com – José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  4. "Ultratop.be – José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  5. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  6. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 36, 1992" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  7. "Dutchcharts.nl – José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  8. "Norwegiancharts.com – José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)". VG-lista. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  9. "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9 no. 41. 10 October 1992. p. 40. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  10. "Swedishcharts.com – José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  11. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  12. "1992 ARIA Singles Chart". ARIA. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  13. VENTILADOR MUSIC – Artistas
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 2012-10-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Friday Night is Music Night". BBC. 22 August 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2008.
  16. es:Samaranch
  17. LASZLO (Viennese opera and crossover tenor)
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