Song written by Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley. First track of the album Love Is and first track to be released as a single from this album in April 1992.

Formats

The single was released on 7″ single, 12″ single, cassette single and a CD-single.
See also this page in the discography.

Versions

There are four versions of ‘Love Is Holy’: the album version, an Ambient mix, an alternative mix and a rough mix.

Music video

A music video was filmed to promote the single. It was directed by Zanna.
Go to this page for more information.

Live performances

‘Love is holy’ was performed live during the German tour in December 1992, the Hits Tour in 1994, Here & Now Australia in 2003 and various live concerts in 2006.

Kim about ‘Love is holy’

I went to LA to do three tracks live with Rick Nowels. When I got there he was very excited about the fact that I was there, he started playing me all of these different songs, and one of them was “Love is holy” which he wrote with Ellen Shipley. He just played it to me on guitar, and I just said to him, ‘How long have you had that song?’. And he said that he had had it a year. I said, ‘You had this song a year?? D’you think perhaps we should do it?’ and he said ‘definitely’. Strange, the song’s been around for a year, but I’m glad it had… (1)

Do you know, he worked me so hard that I ended up in hospital? (laughs) No, literally. I was in L.A. and I was getting these terrible headaches and I couldn’t work out why. I was really worried about it getting on the plane and I made them take me to a hospital to have a look and see what was going on. But it was literally just the stress and strain of working with Rick Nowels in the studio. It was very intense, really exciting. He was a ball of energy. He loves pop music like you wouldn’t believe. (2)

Rick Nowels about ‘Love is holy’

We were finishing up songs and I was looking for another single for Kim. Ellen Shipley and I had an unfinished song called ‘Love is holy’ and we played it for Kim. She loved it straight away and said she thought it was a smash. We finished the lyrics and went in the studio the next day and cut it. The record is entirely live with most of Kim’s live vocal and just a few guitar overdubs. (3)

Credits

Drums: Curt Bisquera
Keyboards: Charles Judge
Guitar: Rusty Anderson
Bass: John Pierce
Backing vocals: Kim Wilde, Ellen Shipley, Frances Ruffelle, Valerie Mayo Pinkston
Produced and arranged by Rick Nowels
Engineered by Kevin Smith
Assisted by Greg Grill
Additional engineering by John Kovarek
Mixed by Steve MacMilan
Assisted by John Chamberlain

Highest chart positions

Australia: 29 (9 weeks)
France: 40
Germany: 42
Ireland: 26 (1 week)
Netherlands: 18 (7 weeks)
Sweden: 39 (2 weeks)
Switzerland: 13 (12 weeks)
United Kingdom: 16 (6 weeks)

Interview sources

(1) Kim Wilde talks about her new album “Love is”, Promo CD (UK), 1992
(2) Unsung Heroes podcast, 17 July 2021
(3) Kim Wilde Fanclub Magazine, Christmas 1992