Tony Christie – (Is This the Way to) Amarillo

“(Is This the Way to) Amarillo” – Single by Tony Christie from the album With Loving Feeling
B-side “Love Is a Friend of Mine”
Released November 1971
Label MCA (UK and Europe); Kapp (US)
Songwriters Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield
Producers Tony Christie, Peter Callander, Mitch Murray
Charted No.18 in UK; No.121 in US; No.1 in Austria; No.1 in Spain; No.1 in West Germanymo.3 in Ireland.

Written by two Americans with a strong country-western lyrical theme, the song was first released in Europe, where it has become much more popular than in the composers’ native country, with a big-band/orchestral pop arrangement sung by Tony Christie. Christie’s version was a major hit in Europe and a modest success in his native United Kingdom upon its release, then became even more popular in the mid-2000s when the song was reissued.

Yorkshire born Tony Christie was a successful singer of dramatic big-voiced pop ballads in the early 1970s. He achieved five top 40 hits in the UK in that period, including this song, which peaked at #18 and “I Did What I Did For Maria,” which got to #2. Meanwhile in continental Europe he was even more successful, topping the German and Spanish charts with this song. Although Christie’s popularity waned in his native Britain from the mid-seventies, he maintained a successful singing career in Germany.