The duet that broke records without the singers ever meeting
In short: In 1985, a song reached number one in the UK and set a Guinness World Record for the biggest selling female duo single. The strange part? The two women who performed it never actually met during the recording process.
Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, and Björn Ulvaeus composed 'I Know Him So Well' for the production Chess. This moving piece features a dialogue between Florence, his lover, plus Svetlana, who is the Russian chess master's separated spouse. The lyrics explore their shared, bittersweet feelings for the same man as their respective relationships collapse.
The production history is a web of musical connections. The chorus was actually adapted from "I Am an A," a song performed live by ABBA in 1977 but never officially released. While Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson recorded their vocals separately—never meeting until the video shoot and subsequent tours—their chemistry propelled the track to four weeks at number one in the UK in 1985.
The song's legacy is defined by its massive commercial reach and diverse covers. It remains a staple of musical theater pop, later covered by Whitney Houston and her mother Cissy Houston in 1987, as well as by Melanie C and Emma Bunton in 2012. From high-budget studio recordings to charity singles for The Trevor Project, the track has maintained its status as a significant piece of contemporary musical history.
Critically, the song's reception has been mixed. While some praised it as a "graceful, intimate" ballad with "grainy soulfulness," others dismissed it as a "derivative show tune" treated with "deadly reverence." Despite these critiques, its commercial dominance is undeniable, ranking seventh on the Official Charts Company's list of all-time best-selling duets.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: I Know Him So Well
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