What Is Love – Haddaway | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#11); 1993
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Nestor Alexander Haddaway was born in Tobago, West Indies, and grew up in the U.S. where he graduated college with a degree in marketing. He eventually landed in Germany as a professional football player for the Cologne Crocodiles.
In addition, Haddaway managed his music career on the way up. “Up” in this case involved forming Elegato with keyboardist Alex Trime, then going solo under the guidance of Dee Dee Halligan and Junior Torello, who headed up the Coconut/Logic record label.
For Haddaway, Halligan and Torello retooled a ballad they’d penned – What Is Love – into a driving dance production. Love heated up the British chart in the summer of ’93 where it peaked at #2, then “crossed over the pond” and climbed the stateside record list.
Haddaway’s continued success in Europe made him one of the year’s top solo artists while here Love became a fixture on Saturday Night Live in the recurring Roxbury disco guys comedy spot.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Dieter Lünstedt
- Karin Hartmann-Eisenblätter
Lyrics Written by:
- Dee Dee Halligan
- Junior Torello
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).