Glenn Medeiros’ “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You”: Remembering the Spring of ‘87

His song came on the scene at a time of transition for me. I was in Grade 12, and so much was happening as I was meeting new people, finishing up high school and looking ahead to university.

All of that meant I had not been listening to as much new music as I had been the last few years.

One day I was talking to my friend Dave Perlich and I heard this beautiful song that, if I were to describe it today, sounded like the grandfather of boy bands. Dave and I used to talk about music a lot. He was the one who had alerted me to “Take on Me” by A-ha a year or so earlier when I experienced another hiatus from music.

I told him I’d never heard the song before.

He replied it was “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You”. It was by Glenn Medeiros, who I had never heard of. Dave said the song had been on the radio for weeks.

It was Glenn Medeiros’ birthday a few days ago and it took my back to that Spring of 1987.

Things change
Grade 12 was an amazing year of fun, adventure and drama. I had liked this girl for a long time, got close to her, then had a falling out. It made me sad, but also wonder what was next. I had spent so much energy on her, I didn’t know what to do.

Soon, though, I met some new people from Grade 11 and one Grade 10, hung out with them during my spares, and actually got up the courage to ask two girls out. One said no, while the other said yes. She would ultimately be my escort to grad too.

In the meantime, I was working at a greenhouse after school and Saturdays, and finishing up my last two high school classes – Math 30 and Math 31.

I had already been accepted to the University of Alberta in the Fall, and was busy figuring out how to take classes, get into residence, and apply for a student loan.

There was a lot going on.

It seemed whenever I was driving from our farm to Coaldale, or from Coaldale to the greenhouse, “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You” was playing.

The song
As it turns out, “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You” is a cover song originally written by George Benson. The version by Hawaiian singer Glenn Medeiros came out in February of 1987 and went all the way to number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

However, it topped the charts in Canada, which makes sense because I heard it all the time. It was all on “Days Of Our Lives”, which I would tape and watch with my Mom.

Parting thoughts
Just thinking about “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You” takes me back to sunny Spring then Summer days in 1987. It reminds of the girl I had pursued for so long, the one I started to date, and how glad I am that I am not 17 anymore going through that range of emotions.

Something that surprised me in reading up on Glenn Medeiros is that he was born in 1970. That means when I was 17 and listening to him on the radio, he was 17 and singing to me.

I always thought singers were much older, and by extension, more worldly. Instead, Glenn Medeiros was a kid like me, probably going through at least some of the same emotions I was.

Maybe that’s why his voice resonates with me.