The bizarre way Sylvester Stallone helped to propel Keith Emerson’s solo career with a 1981 hit
Keith Emerson, best known as the classically trained keyboard virtuoso behind The Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, had spent his career as a purely instrumental performer, avoiding vocals throughout decades of genre-defying prog rock. That changed in 1981 when Sylvester Stallone, searching for a composer for his thriller Nighthawks, chose Emerson to write the entire film score himself. The unlikely collaboration went on to give Emerson his first taste of singing on record, marking a small but notable turning point in his solo career.
Stallone and the film's producers, unable to find a suitable frontman for a lead single, eventually persuaded Emerson to provide vocals on a new version of the song 'I'm a Man'. Although not a natural singer, Emerson carried the tune well enough for the track to boost his standing as a solo artist, even though Nighthawks itself proved a box-office disappointment and its soundtrack failed to make a significant commercial impact.
- Sylvester Stallone hired Keith Emerson to score his 1981 film Nighthawks
- Emerson, usually purely instrumental, sang lead on 'I'm a Man'
- The single boosted his solo career despite the film's poor reception
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Keith Emerson made his name as a keyboard player, first with The Nice and then with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, one of the biggest progressive rock bands of the 1970s. He was known for elaborate instrumental performances rather than singing, and had never provided lead vocals on a record in his career up to that point.
In 1981, Sylvester Stallone was working on the film Nighthawks, a crime thriller in which he starred, and needed someone to compose the score. He picked Emerson for the job, an unusual choice given Emerson's background was in classical-influenced rock rather than film music. When the production struggled to find a singer for the soundtrack's lead single, a cover of 'I'm a Man', Emerson was persuaded to sing it himself, despite having no track record as a vocalist.
The episode is notable because it marked Emerson's first appearance as a singer on record, at a point when he was building a career outside his old band. Nighthawks did not do well at the box office and its soundtrack had little commercial success, but the collaboration with Stallone remains a curious footnote in Emerson's story.