Licence to Kill was released by MCA Records in 1989 and is the 16th movie in the James Bond film series and was composed by Michael Kamen. Best known for composing the soundtrack for the first three Die Hard films and all four Lethal Weapon films (John Barry was not available at the time as he was undergoing throat surgery). Gladys Knight was chosen to sing the theme song, which got its inspiration based on the "horn line" from Goldfinger, which required royalty payments to the original writers. Of note, at five-minutes twelve seconds it is the longest Bond theme. A second song was commissioned and “If You Asked Me To" was sung by Patti LaBelle. This song was covered by and became a much bigger hit for singer Céline Dion.