"To Love Somebody" is a ballad written by Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees. Robert Stigwood, the group's manager, asked the brothers for a soulful ballad in the style of Sam & Dave or The Rascals. The English Wikipedia article reports that the song was written for Otis Redding, who reportedly asked Barry for a song and died in a plane crash later in 1967 before recording it, while Barry told Mojo in 2001 that it was written personally for Stigwood.
The Bee Gees recorded it at IBC Studios in London in April 1967, produced by Stigwood. It was the second single from the album Bee Gees 1st, released in the UK on 30 June 1967 with "Close Another Door" on the B-side. Billboard called it a "smooth, easy beat ballad". It peaked at No. 17 on the US Hot 100, No. 41 in the UK, No. 9 in Canada, No. 6 in Australia and No. 13 in the Netherlands. The Bee Gees reissued it in 1980 on RSO. Notable covers include Nina Simone's 1968 version, a UK No. 5 album hit, and versions by The Sweet Inspirations (1968), James Carr and Janis Joplin (1969), Narvel Felts (1977), Hank Williams Jr. (1979), Michael Bublé (2013) and Al Green (2026).
