Randy VanWarmer

Artist: Randy VanWarmer

LP: Terraform

Song: "I Discovered Love"

[ listen ]

Born in Indian Hills, Colorado in 1955, Randy VanWarmer moved to Cornwall, England with his mother in 1970 a few years after his father died in a car crash. Randy began writing songs and performing in folk music clubs in southern England until the b-side of his first flop single started getting played on the radio in the USA. The song, "Just When I Needed You Most," went on to become his one and only top ten hit, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts in 1979—you can sing along with it here. VanWarmer's 1980 followup album, "Terraform," left pop ballads behind in favor of darker, more interesting material—including a song that relates the post-death ruminations of a paranoid drowned man, and another about the destruction of Earth and humankind's uncertain attempts to survive. Needless to say, these songs were not pop hits, though I think the jaunty "I Discovered Love" could have been, but it never got released as a single. "Terraform" flopped in the USA, but evidently sold fairly well in places where people have better taste in music, like in Australia and Japan. VanWarmer had a moderate hit in 1981 with the song "Suzi Found a Weapon," which reached #55 on the Billboard singles charts, and went all the way to #1 in Alaska. Switching his focus to country music in the mid-1980s, Randy wrote chart-topping hits for groups like The Oak Ridge Boys and Alabama and even had a couple of minor country hits himself in 1988. Sadly, Randy died of leukemia in 2004 when he was just 48 years old; his cremated remains were sent into outer-space three years later. You can read more about the life and career of Randy VanWarmer here, and the pictures and notes from "Terraform" are included below.

 [ Randy VanWarmer: March 30, 1955 — January 12, 2004 ]