Following a series of successful Hollywood movies made throughout the 1980s, among them Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, Oliver and Company and Big Business, Midler returned to the music scene with a proper studio album in 1990, her first since 1983's rock and new wave-influenced No Frills.

Some People's Lives, however, had more in common with the preceding soundtrack Beaches in that it featured both interpretations of jazz standards like "Miss Otis Regrets", "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" and "He Was Too Good to Me" as well as more chart-oriented pop and adult contemporary material with contrasting synth-driven arrangements courtesy of producer Arif Mardin, his son Joe and Robbie Buchanan.

The up-tempo track "Moonlight Dancing" (first recorded by pop/R&B group The Pointer Sisters) was written by noted hitmaker Diane Warren and "The Gift of Love" by Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg and Susanna Hoffs.

The song has since been recorded by a large number of other artists, and Midler herself included an alternate version with partly re-written lyrics on her 2006 album Cool Yule.

[9] Exceeding shipments of more than 2 million copies, it was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in March 1991.