Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
What Is Love - Haddaway (arr. Dan Walsh, Julian Brindley) feat. Julian Nalli (Tenor Sax)
Julian Brindley - Trumpet
Tom Moffett - Trumpet
Julian Nalli - Tenor Sax
Andrew Moljgun - Tenor Sax
Josh Bird - Sousaphone
Jon Hyde - Snare Drum
Stuart Mein - Bass Drum
Recorded live at Burdock burdockto.com
Recorded/mixed by: Patric McGroarty saintclarens.com
Filmed by: Matt Jefferson
🎵 [SONG INFO]
"What Is Love" is a song by Trinidadian singer Haddaway, released as his debut single from his debut album, The Album (1993).
The song, both written and produced by Dee Dee Halligan and Karin Hartmann-Eisenblätter, was released by Coconut Records in January 1993.
It was a hit across Europe, becoming a number-one single in at least 13 countries and reaching number two in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe, the single peaked at number 11 in the United States, number 12 in Australia, number 17 in Canada, and number 48 in New Zealand.
"What Is Love" earned Haddaway two awards at the German 1994 Echo Award, in the categories "Best National Single" and "Best National Dance Single." The music video for "What Is Love" was directed by Volker Hannwacker and received heavy rotation on music television such as MTV Europe.
Background
"What Is Love" was written and produced by German music producer and composer Dee Dee Halligan (Dieter Lünstedt a.k.a. Tony Hendrik) and his partner/wife Junior Torello (Karin Hartmann-Eisenblätter a.k.a. Karin van Haaren) of Coconut Records in Hennef (Sieg) near Cologne. They had previously produced songs for successful groups like Bad Boys Blue and Londonbeat, and were waiting for the right singer for their new song. Trinidadian-born singer Nestor Alexander Haddaway was then chosen to sing it. He used to work as a producer, dancer and choreographer before he was signed to the label. He had lived in the US before moving to Germany. Haddaway didn't actually want to be a solo artist. He just wanted to be a producer, but to help a friend at Coconut that needed to pay the bills, he agreed to do some songs for his friend.
The producers of "What Is Love" wanted Haddaway to try singing the song in the style of Joe Cocker. He told them, "I love Joe Cocker, but I'm no Joe Cocker." He then came up with his own idea of how to sing it and the producers let the singer try it his way. Hendrik would lock himself in the studio, and eight or nine days later he came out with the song as was released. Haddaway told Simon Price of Melody Maker in 1994, that the song was originally a ballad and arrived after a year in a basement studio, "In the beginning it was like five different pies, then those five pies became one pie." The female vocal on the track, meanwhile, was a stock sample released on the Zero-G sample compilation CD "Datafile 1" (tracks 62–64), which was produced in 1991 by Zero-G co-founder and Jack 'N' Chill member Ed Stratton, aka Man Machine, and was aimed at dance producers, DJs, programmers and artists. At first, it was difficult to sell the song. Haddaway told in 2018, "Nobody wanted it. Every radio station said no. All the record companies said no. Everybody turned us down. And we got very lucky. There was a new radio station opening in Cologne at the WDR and yeah, they used 'What Is Love' as a jingle. And we sent it out to like a thousand DJs to see what they thought about it and everyone gave a thumbs-up."
Cover versions and sampling
In 2007, the song was covered by indie band The Gossip, with lead singer Beth Ditto changing the lyrics to "When Is Lunch?, Baby I'm Hungry, I'm Hungry, For More".
In 2009, singer and songwriter Diane Birch completely rearranged the song, that later was featured on Billboard magazine's Mashup Monday in 2010.
In 2010, Swedish boy band E.M.D. released a piano ballad version of "What Is Love" as the second single from their sophomore studio album Rewind.
In 2010 Eminem and Lil Wayne sampled the song for the single "No Love" from Eminem's seventh studio album, Recovery.
In 2011 Emergency Gate covered the song, in collaboration with Haddaway, for their 2011 EP Remembrance (The Early Days).
In 2014 Kiesza did a "piano-and-synth cover" of the song for her album Sound of a Woman.
In 2016 Death in Rome did a cover on their album Hitparade, which consists solely of cover versions of hit songs.
A cover version by Ultraclub 90 is included as one of the tracks in Just Dance 2017.
In 2023 David Guetta announced his own cover titled "Baby Don't Hurt Me", featuring Anne-Marie and Coi Leray.
~more info here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Love
🔗 [LINKS]
theyongekings.com
facebook.com/theyongekings
instagram.com/Theyongekings
youtube.com/channel/UCvNEEUrbLY--fzAPrzMbHoQ
Official YouTube video here:
youtube.com/watch?v=EMW6WslQLBw
Available on bandcamp:
theyongekings.bandcamp.com/track/what-is-love-haddaway
#theyongekings
#whatislove
#brassband
#haddaway
What Is Love - Haddaway (arr. Dan Walsh, Julian Brindley) feat. Julian Nalli (Tenor Sax)
Julian Brindley - Trumpet
Tom Moffett - Trumpet
Julian Nalli - Tenor Sax
Andrew Moljgun - Tenor Sax
Josh Bird - Sousaphone
Jon Hyde - Snare Drum
Stuart Mein - Bass Drum
Recorded live at Burdock burdockto.com
Recorded/mixed by: Patric McGroarty saintclarens.com
Filmed by: Matt Jefferson
🎵 [SONG INFO]
"What Is Love" is a song by Trinidadian singer Haddaway, released as his debut single from his debut album, The Album (1993).
The song, both written and produced by Dee Dee Halligan and Karin Hartmann-Eisenblätter, was released by Coconut Records in January 1993.
It was a hit across Europe, becoming a number-one single in at least 13 countries and reaching number two in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe, the single peaked at number 11 in the United States, number 12 in Australia, number 17 in Canada, and number 48 in New Zealand.
"What Is Love" earned Haddaway two awards at the German 1994 Echo Award, in the categories "Best National Single" and "Best National Dance Single." The music video for "What Is Love" was directed by Volker Hannwacker and received heavy rotation on music television such as MTV Europe.
Background
"What Is Love" was written and produced by German music producer and composer Dee Dee Halligan (Dieter Lünstedt a.k.a. Tony Hendrik) and his partner/wife Junior Torello (Karin Hartmann-Eisenblätter a.k.a. Karin van Haaren) of Coconut Records in Hennef (Sieg) near Cologne. They had previously produced songs for successful groups like Bad Boys Blue and Londonbeat, and were waiting for the right singer for their new song. Trinidadian-born singer Nestor Alexander Haddaway was then chosen to sing it. He used to work as a producer, dancer and choreographer before he was signed to the label. He had lived in the US before moving to Germany. Haddaway didn't actually want to be a solo artist. He just wanted to be a producer, but to help a friend at Coconut that needed to pay the bills, he agreed to do some songs for his friend.
The producers of "What Is Love" wanted Haddaway to try singing the song in the style of Joe Cocker. He told them, "I love Joe Cocker, but I'm no Joe Cocker." He then came up with his own idea of how to sing it and the producers let the singer try it his way. Hendrik would lock himself in the studio, and eight or nine days later he came out with the song as was released. Haddaway told Simon Price of Melody Maker in 1994, that the song was originally a ballad and arrived after a year in a basement studio, "In the beginning it was like five different pies, then those five pies became one pie." The female vocal on the track, meanwhile, was a stock sample released on the Zero-G sample compilation CD "Datafile 1" (tracks 62–64), which was produced in 1991 by Zero-G co-founder and Jack 'N' Chill member Ed Stratton, aka Man Machine, and was aimed at dance producers, DJs, programmers and artists. At first, it was difficult to sell the song. Haddaway told in 2018, "Nobody wanted it. Every radio station said no. All the record companies said no. Everybody turned us down. And we got very lucky. There was a new radio station opening in Cologne at the WDR and yeah, they used 'What Is Love' as a jingle. And we sent it out to like a thousand DJs to see what they thought about it and everyone gave a thumbs-up."
Cover versions and sampling
In 2007, the song was covered by indie band The Gossip, with lead singer Beth Ditto changing the lyrics to "When Is Lunch?, Baby I'm Hungry, I'm Hungry, For More".
In 2009, singer and songwriter Diane Birch completely rearranged the song, that later was featured on Billboard magazine's Mashup Monday in 2010.
In 2010, Swedish boy band E.M.D. released a piano ballad version of "What Is Love" as the second single from their sophomore studio album Rewind.
In 2010 Eminem and Lil Wayne sampled the song for the single "No Love" from Eminem's seventh studio album, Recovery.
In 2011 Emergency Gate covered the song, in collaboration with Haddaway, for their 2011 EP Remembrance (The Early Days).
In 2014 Kiesza did a "piano-and-synth cover" of the song for her album Sound of a Woman.
In 2016 Death in Rome did a cover on their album Hitparade, which consists solely of cover versions of hit songs.
A cover version by Ultraclub 90 is included as one of the tracks in Just Dance 2017.
In 2023 David Guetta announced his own cover titled "Baby Don't Hurt Me", featuring Anne-Marie and Coi Leray.
~more info here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Love
🔗 [LINKS]
theyongekings.com
facebook.com/theyongekings
instagram.com/Theyongekings
youtube.com/channel/UCvNEEUrbLY--fzAPrzMbHoQ
Official YouTube video here:
youtube.com/watch?v=EMW6WslQLBw
Available on bandcamp:
theyongekings.bandcamp.com/track/what-is-love-haddaway
#theyongekings
#whatislove
#brassband
#haddaway
