"That's What Friends Are For" is a 1982 song written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager and introduced by Rod Stewart for the soundtrack of the film Night Shift.
The song is far better known for its cover version by Dionne Warwick and Friends, a one-off collaboration featuring Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder released as a charity single in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1985, was recorded as a benefit for American Foundation for AIDS Research, and raised over three million dollars for that cause. The tune peaked at #1 for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1986 and became Billboard's number one single of 1986. In 1988, the Washington Post wrote: So working against AIDS, especially after years of raising money for work on many blood-related diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, seemed the right thing to do. "You have to be granite not to want to help people with AIDS, because the devastation that it causes is so painful to see. I was so hurt to see my friend die with such agony," Warwick remembers. "I am tired of hurting and it does hurt."
The Dionne and Friends version of the song won the performers the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Bacharach and Bayer Sager. It also was ranked by Billboard magazine as the most popular song of 1986. It is also used on Level 14 of The Simpsons Game.
That's What Friends Are For was the Irish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975, performed in English by The Swarbriggs.
The song is an up-tempo number, with the singers calling on their listeners to help each other in times of need, because "That's what friends are for". The call is made to everyone in the world, rather than just those who know the needy person at the time.
The performance is notable for the fact that the singers wore identical electric blue suits, taking full advantage of the increasing trend towards bright and eye-catching costumes. The song was performed second on the night (following the Netherlands' Teach-In with Ding-A-Dong and preceding France's Nicole Rieu with Et Bonjour À Toi L'Artiste). At the close of voting, it had received 68 points, placing 9th in a field of 19.
It was succeeded as Irish representative at the 1976 Contest by Red Vincent Hurley with When.
The song and the accompanying music video were parodied in the Father Ted episode Song for Europe with the song My Lovely Horse.
"That's What Friends Are For"' is a song in the widely popular Walt Disney film The Jungle Book from 1967. The song was sung by a quartet of "mop top" vultures who are making friends with the main character of the film. The song was written by Disney staff songwriters, Robert and Richard Sherman.
