To Love Somebody is a soulful pop ballad written by Barry and Robin Gibb for Otis Redding at the request of their manager Robert Stigwood. The Bee Gees recorded it in April 1967 at IBC Studios in London and released it as the second single from their international debut Bee Gees' 1st in June 1967. The track blends blue-eyed soul and pop and runs about 3 minutes. It reached number 17 on the US charts and number 41 in the UK; the B-side was Close Another Door. The song was originally written for Otis Redding, who admired the material but died in a plane crash before recording it. It has since been covered by many artists including Michael Bolton, Nina Simone, Narvel Felts, The Sweet Inspirations, Jimmy Somerville, and Michael Bublé. It was reissued in 1980 with How Can You Mend a Broken Heart as the flipside and was ranked number 94 on NME’s 100 Best Tracks of the Sixties.
