"At This Moment" is a song that was first recorded by Billy Vera & The Beaters in 1981 during a string of performances at the Roxy in West Hollywood (January 15 17) and featured on their self-titled live album, Billy and the Beaters, released that same year.

When it was originally released as a single, as the follow-up to the album's first single, "I Can Take Care of Myself"^[1] (which had become the band's first Billboard Top 40 hit^[2]), "At this Moment" stalled on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #79 at the end of 1981. When the song was included on several episodes of the NBC sitcom Family Ties during the 1985-86 season as the love song associated with Alex P. Keaton (played by Michael J. Fox) and his girlfriend Ellen Reed (played by Tracy Pollan, whom Fox eventually married in real life), the exposure renewed interest in the song. Reissue label Rhino Entertainment purchased the track from the band's original record label, Alfa (which was by then inactive), and re-released it in its original version. The tune then began a revived chart run, eventually hitting #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in January 1987. It quickly sold over a million copies in the United States, becoming one of the last Gold-certified singles in the 45 RPM format. The song crossed over to the R&B and Country formats, reaching #40 on the Country Singles chart.

In an interview with Rachael Ray in 2007, Michael J. Fox good-naturedly said, "Tracy and I couldn't get on the dance floor anywhere in the world for like ten years without them playing 'What would you think...' " (These are the opening words of "At This Moment.") ^[3]

A cover version was recorded by country music singer Neal McCoy on his 1990 debut album, also titled At This Moment. McCoy's version was released as a single, but did not chart. Another cover version of the song appears on Michael Bubl 's 2009 album, Crazy Love.

References

• The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 9th Edition, 2010
• Back cover liner notes of the Billy and the Beaters (1981) album