Songfacts®:

• This tender ballad was first recorded by George Benson in 1985 and included on his album 20/20. Glenn Medeiros, a 16-year-old high school student on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, sang it on a local radio contest called "Brown Bags to Stardom" after hearing the song on Benson's album. He won the contest and subsequently recorded the song on a local Hawaiian label in 1986. A visiting radio executive from KZZP in Phoenix, Arizona, heard Medeiros' cover, took the record back to Phoenix, and played it on the air. The song got a great response in both Hawaii and Phoenix, and in the beginning of 1987, Medeiros signed to MCA Records and it was released nationwide. In June 1987, it climbed to #12 a few weeks before Medeiros turned 17.
• Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin wrote this song. Masser co-wrote another huge hit that was originally by George Benson: "The Greatest Love Of All," which Whitney Houston took to #1 in 1986. Goffin composed many hits of the early rock era, often with Carole King, his wife from 1959-1969. His co-writes include "The Loco-Motion," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," and "Up On The Roof."
• In 1988, "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You" was released throughout Europe, where it became an even bigger hit, going to #1 in the UK, Ireland, France, and the Netherlands. It's the only song co-written by Gerry Goffin to hit #1 hit in Britain.
• Medeiros had the looks and talent to be a teen idol, but his tastes were more mature - he was a big George Benson fan, which led him to this song. He toured the world when the song became a hit, but didn't have a raging ambition to be a pop star. His record company, MCA, pushed him in that direction though, and had him record a hip-hop-flavored song called "She Ain't Worth It" with a guest rap from Bobby Brown. That song went to #1 in America in 1990, but was his last big hit. He released a few more albums before entering the world of education, where he did very well. Medeiros earned a doctorate in educational leadership in 2014 and in 2017 became the president of the Saint Louis school near Honolulu.
• Instead of setting the music video at an amusement park or somewhere else teenagers would hang out, it shows Medeiros and a woman who looks a lot older walking a beach, dressed like they're about to go for a fancy dinner. There's also a horse.
  
  The video was clearly marketed for VH1, where beaches were the go-to setting.