1984 was a HUGE year for the Hall of Fame group, Chicago. They had just released their 14th studio album, Chicago 17 which proved to be both a huge commercial success as well as a farewell. The album spawned 4 huge hits, the 2nd album produced by David Foster and the final album that featured Peter Cetera.
"Hard Habit to Break" is a song written by Steve Kipner and John Lewis Parker, produced and arranged by David Foster and recorded by the group Chicago for their 1984 album Chicago 17, with Bill Champlin and Peter Cetera sharing lead vocals. Released as the second single from the album, it reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was prevented from any more chart movement by "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" by Billy Ocean and "I Just Called To Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder. "Hard Habit to Break" also peaked at No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Overseas it peaked at No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Hard Habit to Break" was nominated for four Grammy Awards: Foster and Jeremy Lubbock won the award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s); Chicago were nominated for the song in the categories Record of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; and Cetera and Foster were nominated for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices. Songwriters Kipner and Parker won an ASCAP award in 1986 for most-performed song.
Chicago 17 is the fourteenth studio album by American band Chicago, released on May 14, 1984. It was the group's second release for Full Moon/Warner Bros. Records, their second album to be produced by David Foster and their last with founding bassist/vocalist Peter Cetera.
Four singles were released from the album, all of which placed in the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The success of the singles propelled Chicago 17 to achieve an RIAA certification of six times platinum. Chicago 17 remains the biggest-selling album in the band's history.
In 1985 the album received three Grammy Awards. David Foster won for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (tied in this category with Lionel Richie and James Anthony Carmichael), Humberto Gatica won for Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical, and David Foster and Jeremy Lubbock won for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) for "Hard Habit to Break" which was also nominated for Record of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices. In his review of the album for AllMusic, music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine says Chicago 17 is "the pinnacle of [producer David Foster's] craft and one of the best adult contemporary records of the '80s," and one of the most influential albums "within its style."
Chicago is an American rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1967. The group was initially billed as The Big Thing before calling themselves the Chicago Transit Authority in 1968, and then shortening the name in 1969. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" blended elements of classical music, jazz, R&B, and pop music. They produced numerous top-40 hits over two decades, and continue to record and perform live.
To date, Chicago has sold over 40 million units in the U.S., with 23 gold, 18 platinum, and eight multi-platinum albums. They have had five consecutive number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and 20 top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1974 the group had seven albums, its entire catalog at the time, on the Billboard 200 simultaneously. The group has received ten Grammy Award nominations, winning one for the song, "If You Leave Me Now". The group's first album, Chicago Transit Authority, released in 1969, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014. The original line-up of Chicago was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
