At This Moment
"At This Moment" is a song written by Billy Vera and recorded live by Vera and his band under the name, Billy & the Beaters, in 1981, during a string of performances at the Roxy in West Hollywood and featured on their self-titled live album, Billy and the Beaters, released that year on the American subsidiary of Japan's Alfa Records. The song is more notable for its second run on the charts years after its initial release, following a featuring on an episode of Family Ties, during which the song became a #1 hit.
Original release
When it was originally released as a single, as the follow-up to the album's first single, "I Can Take Care of Myself", "At this Moment" stalled on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #79 at the end of 1981.Re-release
Five years after the original release, "At This Moment" was included on several episodes of the NBC sitcom Family Ties during the 1985-86 season as the love song associated with Alex P. Keaton and his girlfriend Ellen Reed. Its exposure on Family Ties renewed interest in the song. Reissue label Rhino Records purchased the track from the band's original record label, Alfa, and re-released it in its original version as Rhino 74403. The tune then began a revived chart run, eventually hitting #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in January 1987. The song also hit the Billboard R&B Chart and the Billboard Hot Country Chart. As the song was starting to take off it came to the attention of Ron Carpentier President of RCI Music Promotion who was hired on the promotion of the song to radio and soon after the song hit the Billboard Hot Country Chart. It quickly sold over a million copies in the United States, becoming one of the last Gold-certified singles in the 45 RPM format. The song crossed over to the R&B and Country formats, reaching #42 Country; as country was moving away from pop influence at the time, "At This Moment" would be the last song to appear on the country charts and reach number one on the pop charts for 13 years.In an interview with Rachael Ray in 2007, Michael J. Fox good-naturedly said, "Tracy and I couldn't get on the dance floor anywhere in the world for like ten years without them playing 'What did you think...' "
At the 2011 TV Land Awards held in New York City, Billy Vera performed At This Moment with the Family Ties cast in attendance that also included Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan as the show had been nominated for and won outstanding fan favorite.
Cover versions
A cover version was recorded by country music singer Neal McCoy on his 1990 debut album, also titled At This Moment. McCoy's version was released as a single, but did not chart. Another cover version of the song appears on Michael Bublé's 2009 album, Crazy Love. The song has gone on to become a modern standard with dozens of covers, including Tom Jones, Freda Payne, Danny Boone, Arthur Prysock, Wayne Newton, blues singer Little Milton and soul singer Will Downing. Seth MacFarlane also sang the song's opening lines in the character of Brian Griffin in the Family Guy episode "Brian the Bachelor", as well as in the title character in the 2015 film, Ted 2.Chart history
Weekly charts
| Chart | Peak position |
| Australia | 11 |
| Canadian RPM Top Tracks | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| Dutch Singles Charts | 26 |
| - | |
| New Zealand Singles Charts | 50 |
| UK Singles Chart | 32 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Singles | 1 |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| US R&B Singles | 70 |
| US Billboard Hot Country Singles | 42 |