Album of the Day

Bette Midler has combined careers as a singer and an actress for decades, never more successfully than in Beaches. A three-hanky tearjerker, the film features Midler as vocalist C.C. Bloom and Barbara Hershey as her lifelong friend Hillary. It's a set-up that allows Bette plenty of opportunities to break into song, and as the film follows her character's circuitous rise from obscure club performer to headliner, the Beaches soundtrack includes jazz (“I've Still Got My Health”), experimental ("Oh Industry"), country ("I Know You By Heart") and rock ("I Think It's Going to Rain Today") material. But by far the most famous track on the album is "Wind Beneath My Wings," a song that had been recorded by several performers before Midler cut the definitive version here. "Wind Beneath My Wings" topped the U.S. singles chart on this day in 1989 and went on to win Grammys for Record and Song of the Year, driving the Beaches soundtrack to triple-platinum status (it remains Bette Midler's all-time top seller).