THE late Quincy Jones made memorable contributions to General Hospital in the early 1980s, featuring songs that were used for not one but two of the show’s most popular duets – Holly (Emma Sams) and Luke (Anthony Geary), and later, Robert (Tristan Rogers) and Holly.

Jones produced the song “Baby Come to Me”, which only reached No. 73 on the Billboard charts when it was first released in April 1982. Later, GH used it to introduce ‘widower’ Luke Spencer finding love again with the enigmatic Holly Sutton. The song, performed by singers James Ingram and Patti Austin, took viewers into Luke’s romance with the English beauty.

While viewers heard the tune several times a week while watching Holly and Luke, the actors didn’t necessarily hear it in full, as the songs are added to scenes after they were filmed. “The music isn’t always playing when a scene is recorded,” Samms told TV Insider. “Even though sometimes a little bit of leakage was coming out of the camera crew’s headphones, it gave us an idea of ​​what was going on with our performances.”

“When I first started on the show, I would record the shows and watch what I had done, so I knew that ‘Baby Come to Me’ had been chosen as the theme for Luke and Holly,” adds Samms.

It’s really sad to hear the news about James Ingram.
Here, he visited the set of General Hospital to celebrate his song “Baby Come to Me” (the theme song from Luke & Holly) reaching number one.
He was a truly lovely man. #JamesIngram pic.twitter.com/PjKivigxhV

-Emma Samms MBE (@EmmaSamms1) January 30, 2019

Even before Laura’s (Genie Francis) back in late 1983, which we firmly believe would have separated Luke and Holly, fate had already intervened. After Luke was presumed dead in an avalanche, his best friend Robert encouraged a pregnant Holly to marry him. They fell in love for good after her miscarriage and became a true supercouple in their own right, a dynamic that still exists today.

No surprise GH“Baby Come to Me”‘s use of “Baby Come to Me” helped propel the October 1982 re-released song to No. 1 on the Billboard chart for two weeks in February 1983. “Every time I heard it play radio, often with a reference to General Hospital and sometimes even referencing my character, Holly, it was a huge thrill,” Samms recalls.

While Samms, alongside the legendary GH executive producer Gloria Monty, and Geary met Ingram when he came GH to record “Baby Come to Me,” she shares that she didn’t have the chance to meet Jones. “I know I would have loved the opportunity to tell him what a huge fan I was of all his music – and still am,” Samms says. “To have that skill and that range of styles…he was truly a genius.”

Holly and Luke moving away from each other didn’t mean the end of Jones’ influence in Samms’ on-screen relationships. GH heard the song “How Do You Keep the Music Playing”, for which Jones wrote the lyrics, used in the 1982 film Best friends featuring Goldie Hawn And Burt Reynoldsand I thought it was perfect for Robert and Holly.

“When Robert and Holly got their own song, it was the seal of approval from the powers that be,” Samms recalls with a smile. “It meant we were doing something right. It is a shame that due, I suppose, to budgetary constraints, the songs are not used in the same way on GH more.”

Samms is grateful that Jones’ music was used to help establish not one but two of Holly’s romantic tales. “Music is surely the most powerful tool to express the emotions of a love story,” she says. “A beautiful song like ‘How Do You Keep the Music Playing’ does more than accompany or enhance a scene, it instantly draws the audience into whatever feelings the writers and actors hope to convey, and I’m sure Tristan and I will always be grateful to Quincy Jones for the spectacular work he entrusted to us!

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