The Peabo Bryson Duet That Launched a Legendary ‘Days of our Lives’ Love Story

The year was 1983 and Days of our Lives’ Hope Williams (Kristian Alfonso) turned 18 years old. At her big formal party, she danced the night away with Bo Brady (Peter Reckell), and the soap couple’s love theme was born. Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack‘s “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” became a soap opera love anthem that stood the test of time as an iconic daytime couple was born.

Days of our Lives’ Bo and Hope Celebrated Their Love

When Bo and Hope first shared their romantic dance, Salem singer Liz Chandler (Gloria Loring) sang the tune as the live entertainment at Hope’s party. In the story, Hope invited bad boy Bo as her date, against her father’s wishes. Later that night, Hope and Bo admitted they loved one another for the first time, which was also the first time the Bryson-Flack version of the song began to play.

Over the ensuing decades, “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” became Bo and Hope’s constant love theme, with the tune even playing in a special music box the couple owned. As for the single itself, it spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 16 in November of 1983, according to Billboard. It was part of the Born to Love album, an LP of duets between the pair, with “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” being the most popular.

Bryson, who suffered a stroke at the age of 75 on May 31, had another hit song the next year that also captured soap fans’ imaginations. “Whenever You’re in My Arms Again” became the love theme for Kelly Capwell (Robin Wright) and Joe Perkins (Dane Witherspoon) on NBC’s Santa Barbara, which aired from 1984 to 1992. Joe and Kelly were the soap’s initial star-crossed lovers, with Bryson’s love song heard frequently throughout the soap’s first few months on the air.

Still, it’s Days of our Lives fans who will always know “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” as the song that changed everything for one of the soap’s most beloved pairs.

Days of our Lives streams weekdays on Peacock.