Twenty-eight years ago today (Sept. 5, 1992), after releasing 19 Top 40 singles, Vince Gill finally scored his first No. 1 hit. The song, “I Still Believe in You,” was the debut single from and title track of his sixth studio album.
Gill reportedly penned “I Still Believe in You” during a time of marital turbulence with his first wife, Sweethearts of the Rodeo star Janis Oliver; in the tune, he sings, “Somewhere along the way, I guess I just lost track / Only thinkin’ of myself, never lookin’ back / For all the times I’ve hurt you, I apologize / I’m sorry it took so long to finally realize.” But while the message was meaningful at the time, their marriage unraveled only a few years later, with Gill subsequently marrying Christian singer Amy Grant.
Although the former spouses now enjoy a cordial and friendly relationship, Gill’s ex-wife says that “I Still Believe in You” carries a bitter reminder.
”Some songs that come on the radio still break my heart,” Oliver tells Nashville’s Tennessean. ”I can pretend like they don’t tug at my heart or make me wistful, but there are some songs I can’t listen to anymore, like “I Still Believe in You,” because of the circumstances around them and what he told me they meant to him. To hear that now is confusing.”
Still, the song was a monumental success for Gill, who has gone on to sell more than 26 million albums and accumulate more than 50 Top 40 hits. I Still Believe in You has been the most successful album of Gill’s career to date, selling in excess of 5 million copies in the United States.
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