teve Miller had hoped to see his hit "Fly Like An Eagle" soar to the top of the pop charts like his previous single ( "Rock'n Me" ), but instead it ended up with its wings clipped, having to settle for the runner-up position.

First charting on Jan. 8, 1977, "Fly Like An Eagle" Dallas-raised blues-rocker Steve Miller's third Top 10 and fourth Top 40 single, peaking at #2 for two weeks. It was the third single and title track from his 1976 album , which first charted on May 29, 1976, climbing to #3 on the Hot 200 album chart and remaining on the chart for an impressive 97 weeks. It was certified a platinum million-seller by the RIAA on Sept. 27, 1976.

In 1966, Miller moved to San Francisco and joined up with James "Curly" Cooke, Lonnie Turner, and Tim Davis to form The Steve Miller Band, which got its start backing acts like Chuck Berry. An appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 led to a recording deal with Capitol Records and the release of the band's debut album, Children Of The Future, in 1968. The group's first hit, the #94 "Living In The U.S.A.," came later that year. However, over the course of eight albums, Miller was unable to fly onto the Top 40 of the singles charts. That changed in 1974 when his hit "The Joker" climbed to #1. But rather than immediately cash in on his success, Miller took two years to create his follow-up, Fly Like A Eagle .

The album sold more than 4 million copies and spun off three hit singles. "Take The Money and Run" climbed to #11, and was followed by the chart-topping "Rock'n Me." The album's third release was a single called "Fly Like An Eagle." Written by Miller the song entered the charts at #73. Flying up the charts, the song glided into the runner-up position in its 13th chart week. It also crossed over to the other charts, climbing to #38 on the Adult Contemporary charts and #20 on the R&B charts. But Steve Miller was unable to fly like The Eagles, who were dropping down the charts with their former #1 hit "New Kid In Town" and climbing with their future chart-topper, "Hotel California."

Miller took to the skies again for his next hit, the #8 "Jet Airliner." This was his last Billboard Top 10 hit for five years, until Steve showed his chart magic with the #1 hit "Abracadabra." After 1986's #97 hit "I Want To Make The World Turn Around," Miller was off the charts for seven years, returning in 1993 with the #64 hit "Wide River." This was the last chart appearance for Miller, but not as a songwriter. In 1997, British singer Seal took his remake of "Fly Like An Eagle," featured in the movie Space Jam, to #10.

- Christopher G. Feldman, The Billboard Book of No. 2 Singles, Billboard, 2000.

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