"Hang On in There Baby" is a song written by American musician Johnny Bristol and arranged by H. B. Barnum as the title track from his first album. It was released as his debut solo single in 1974, reaching No. 8 on the U.S. Hot 100[2] and No. 2 on the U.S. R&B chart.[3] In the UK, it reached No. 3.[4]
A cover version was released in 1992 by English band Curiosity Killed the Cat, whose name was shortened to Curiosity starting from this release. The lead single from their third album Back to Front (1994) under RCA Records, the song is the band's joint biggest hit alongside "Down to Earth", peaking at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart.[15]
Barlow recorded the song in 1996, during recording sessions for his first solo work, Open Road. Although it was included on the British version of the album, it was never released as a single in the UK. In America, it was the third single off the record and was also released as a single in Germany, and to radio in the Netherlands due its popularity. The single version features vocals from American singer Rosie Gaines.[26]
When Barlow started touring in promotion of Open Road, he hired Rosie Gaines as a support act. While on tour, he decided to record a new version of "Hang On in There Baby" featuring Gaines, which he intended to use for performance only. However, following a record deal with Arista and a plan to release Open Road in America, he and Gaines recorded a studio version for the album. On April 3, 1998, he released the duet version as the third American single from Open Road, and also issued it in the Netherlands. When Barlow's video album, Open Book, was released in the United Kingdom in June 1998, an accompanying single given away with the video featured the duet version of "Hang On in There Baby" as its lead track; the duet version had previously been unavailable in the UK.
The music video features footage of Barlow and Gaines performing the song on the Open Road tour, as well as backstage footage featuring Barlow's home life and rehearsals. A snippet of the video was included on Open Book; however, the full video has never been commercially released.
