C'est La Vie

Before he landed a recording contract in 1986, Robbie Nevil worked as a songwriter for MCA Records, where he wrote the tune "C'est La Vie" with Mark Holding and Duncan Pain. The R&B/dance-pop track would become the lead single from Nevil's debut album and his highest-charting solo hit, but it was first recorded a year earlier by gospel singer Beau Williams for the album Bodacious!

In a Songfacts interview, Nevil admitted that he fought against the song as his debut single. "I had the song for three years, and I didn't consider it one of my newer things," he said. "I just didn't know how that song would be taken. You know, you get too close to it. I felt that wasn't the right first single. There were a few people at the label, particularly [executive producer] Steve Reed, who said, 'If you don't go with this, you're an absolute fool.' Not that he forced it, but he was just so passionate and compelling and felt so strong. And he was right." Aside from the execs at the record label, the song had another big supporter: Nevil's 96-year-old grandma. "Now, I don't know that that affected the record company whatsoever [laughing], but it is true that she actually did say, 'That's the one you should go with,'" Nevil said.

Nevil originally had Kool & the Gang in mind when he co-wrote the track, which led to the bouncy, eighth-note feel. After that, the song came together almost effortlessly. He told Songfacts: "My friend started singing the sax line on top, and before you know it, we've started singing 'C'est La Vie.' I don't even remember how it happened. It was one of those things where it just literally came together so fast. We sat down to write the lyric, and we're all three laying on the carpet, sitting around. As we're writing the verses, we were laughing. It really was effortless: 'Oh, how about this, maybe make it JJ?'"