Mark Mueller (born July 11, 1957) is an American songwriter. A two-time winner of the ASCAP Pop Award for writing one of the Most Performed Songs of the year, he has had three Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten singles and one #1 Adult Contemporary hit. He co-wrote #1 hits "Crush" by Jennifer Paige and "That's What Love Is For" by Amy Grant and wrote both words and music for the Top 10 hit "Nothin' At All" by Heart. Songs he has written have been featured on RIAA-certified gold and platinum records in four consecutive decades: the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s; and on the Billboard Top 10 charts for 30 years.
For his work in television, Mueller has been the recipient of two Emmy nominations, both in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics. Mueller wrote the words and music for the theme songs of both the original Disney's DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers animated TV series as well as the 2017 DuckTales reboot. In 2022, Mueller's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers theme song was performed by rapper and singer Post Malone for the Disney+ movie version of Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers and also appears on the soundtrack.
A Vanity Fair magazine article about Mueller and his DuckTales theme song covered his pop music career and his experience writing the song. In 2023, two of his themes were included in Billboard magazine's list of the 100 "Best Disney Songs of All Time" (film, television and theme park music) marking the studio's first 100 years, with DuckTales ranked at #19 and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers at #63. Mueller was born in the Bay Area and graduated from University of California, Berkeley; he lives and works in Los Angeles.
Chart history
"Crush", recorded by Jennifer Paige, was #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for 4 weeks. It spent 17 weeks in the Top 10 and 25 weeks overall on the chart. "Crush" also reached the #2 position on the R&R CHR airplay chart.
"Crush" was a #1 single in Canada, Spain, New Zealand and Australia. In the UK, "Crush" reached #1 on the airplay chart and #4 on the UK Singles Chart, where it spent three weeks in the Top 10.
In 2016, "Crush" returned to the Billboard Top 10 when it peaked at #5 on the magazine's Smooth Jazz Airplay chart in a cover by jazz keyboardist John Novello. His version features R&B saxophone artist Gerald Albright on the chorus. It spent a total of 19 weeks in the Top 30.
"That's What Love Is For" by Amy Grant was #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for 3 weeks (13 weeks in the Top 10 and 32 weeks on the chart overall), reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (4 weeks in the Top 10) and peaked at #4 on the R&R CHR chart.
"Nothin' at All" by Heart reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 16 weeks on the chart overall. It was #6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs for two weeks and stayed in the Top 10 for 4 weeks. Mueller wrote both words and music for the Pop/Rock song.
Mueller's Eternal single "I Am Blessed" made the UK Top Ten on the BPI singles chart, peaking at #7 during its three weeks in the Top 10.
"Someone" performed by El DeBarge made the Top 20 Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and peaked at #20, where it spent two weeks. Overall it stayed on the magazine's Adult Contemporary Chart for 13 weeks as well as 9 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was co-written with twice Grammy Award-winner Jay Graydon and singer Robbie Nevil.
Earth, Wind & Fire recorded "You & I", a single Mueller co-wrote with singer Robbie Nevil that was a Billboard R&B Chart Top 30 hit in 1987, reaching #29.
ABBA's Agnetha Faltskog recorded Mueller's "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)", which was a Top 20 hit in 1988, reaching #19 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. It was a duet with Peter Cetera, former lead singer of the band Chicago. Co-written with Aaron Zigman, the song also spent time in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #93.
George Benson's "No One Emotion", which Mueller co-wrote with Clif Magness, was released as a single in the UK in 1985 where it reached #76 on the Official British Pop Chart.
"Just Because I Love You" by Lina Santiago reached #27 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 Chart hit in 1996. It spent eight weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #78.
Mueller's first Billboard chart hit was "I Don't Want To Be Lonely", performed by Dana Valery. It reached #23 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and spent 13 weeks on that chart and five weeks on the magazine's Hot 100.