Remember When Bruce Willis Had a Hit Single on the Radio?

Bruce Willis is best known as an award-winning actor, appearing in hit films like the Die Hard franchise, Pulp Fiction, Red, and more. But Willis also has talent as a singer. In addition to singing on the soundtracks for some of his films, he also released his own music.

In 1987, Willis released The Return Of Bruno, his first of two albums. The Return Of Bruno was released as his alter ego, Bruno Radolini. The record includes both covers and originals, including “Respect Yourself”. Willis’s most successful single from the record, “Respect Yourself” was originally released by the Staple Singers in 1971. Written by Luther Ingram and Mack Rice, Willis’s version of the song hit the Top 5. 

Willis is joined by The Pointer Sisters for “Respect Yourself”. Willis followed “Respect Yourself” with “Under The Boardwalk”, becoming a Top 20 hit, and his last single to chart. In 1989, Willis released his sophomore  If It Don’t Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger project, which failed to produce any hit singles.

Both The Return Of Bruno and his sophomore If It Don’t Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger were released on the Motown record label. Willis became the first white artist to hit the Top 5 on Motown.

What Bruce Willis Says About His Alter Ego, Bruno Radolini

Willis happily took on his alter ego for both his music and an HBO mockumentary, The Return Of Bruno. But while it may have seemed light-hearted, Willis was intentional in all aspects of The Return Of Bruno.

“Bruno takes himself very seriously,” Willis says on the Today Show. “I kinda look at him as just another performance, just another page in the book of the entertainment that I do. He’s a character that I play. It certainly allows me not to take myself so seriously.”

Although Willis did not become a musical superstar, he maintains he is still grateful for that chapter in his life.

“I don’t have any regrets about anything I’ve done,” he later tells MTV. “I’ve certainly learned from some of the things that I’ve done. But I wouldn’t change anything.”

In 2023, Willis’s family announced that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. He has since retired from the spotlight.

“FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone,” his family said in a statement. “For people under 60, FTD is the most common form of dementia, and because getting the diagnosis can take years, FTD is likely much more prevalent than we know. Today, there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead.”

Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images

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