"The Lady in Red" is a song by British-Irish singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh. It was released on 20 June 1986 as the second single from the album Into the Light. The song was responsible for introducing de Burgh's music to a mainstream audience worldwide. Creation The song was written in reference to his wife Diane, who used to come and watch him perform at his parents' hotel. It was released on the album Into the Light. On the British TV series This Is Your Life, de Burgh said that the song was inspired by the memory of when he first saw Diane, and how men so often cannot even remember what their wives were wearing when they first met. Critical reception and impact The song was a massive hit across the world, quickly becoming de Burgh's best-selling single and his signature song, transforming him from a cult artist into a household name in many countries. It reached the number one position in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and the Flanders region of Belgium. It also reached number three in the United States during the spring of 1987. The song also propelled its parent album Into The Light to the number two position in the United Kingdom and success in other markets. The song was de Burgh's third UK hit single and the first to reach the top 40. The song tends to divide public opinion and it was voted the tenth most annoying song of all time in a poll commissioned by Dotmusic in 2000. It was one of only two singles in the top ten which were not novelty songs. It was also voted the third worst song of the 1980s by readers of Rolling Stone. It was chosen as the sixth worst love song of all time by Gigwise, who said "it is destined to grate on you at weddings forever more". In a 2001 poll of more than 50,000 Channel 4 viewers and readers of The Observer, the song was voted the fourth most hated UK number-one single. On the Channel 4 show, journalist, presenter and author Stuart Maconie opined that the song was "one of the few things I can think of that has absolutely no redeeming feature. It's a terrible song, sung very badly, by a bloke who, you'd rather not have on your television". Neil Norman of The Independent argued in 2006: "Only