In 1977 aspiring singer songwriter Amanda McBroom was under pressure from her manager to create a song that could help her get a record deal. While driving in her car in Los Angeles one day McBroom heard Danny O'Keefe’s song Magdelena on the radio. Intrigued by the line “Your love Is like a razor, my heart is just a scar”, McBroom started thinking. She loved the line but was dismayed by O'Keefe’s negative interpretation of love. McBroom challenged herself to define love in a song, according to her own belief system. The result of her inspired effort was “The Rose”.
Amanda McBroom’s interpretation of love in “The Rose” encourages people to believe in love, to take chances and to not be discouraged by doubt and insecurity. Her bittersweet, optimistic song didn’t help her career in the way she thought it would, but it would help her, and it would change her life forever.
After performing The Rose in a few clubs and once on the Jim Nabors show the song remained in relative obscurity until a film, also called The Rose, went into production. The film was a loose interpretation of the tragic life of 1960’s blues legend Janis Joplin, starring the world famous, award winning, platinum record holding, chart topping, Bette Midler. As the soundtrack for the film was assembled a friend of McBroom’s recommended her song to be included. Producers scoffed at the idea, rejecting it twice before Bette Midler heard it. Mega-star Midler not only wanted the song to be used in the film, but wanted to record her own version.
After the film’s release Bette Midler was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won the Golden Globe Award for her role. Her recording of the Rose went to the top of the charts and the single sold a million copies that first year, going gold, and earned Bette Midler the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The song was not eligible for the Academy Award because it had not been written specifically for the film but the Golden Globes did recognize it with the award for Best Original Song.