Where Everybody Knows Your Name the Charles Brothers gave it their stamp of approval, and once Portnoy and Hart Angelo had complied with a request for a few lyric changes intended to broaden the song's appeal to a more general audience, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" was officially designated the "Theme from "Cheers"". The original opening verse: was changed to: After several months of mulling over possible outside singers, the producers eventually asked Gary Portnoy to record the vocal for the opening credits of their new series. (The chorus of the song is six of Portnoy’s vocals that he recorded one on top of the
Gary Portnoy also wrote (with Hart Angelo) and performed the theme song for NBC's Punky Brewster. In 2003, after a hiatus from the music business during the 1990s, Portnoy released the 12-track album "Keeper", which includes the full-length version of "Where Everybody Knows Your Name". In 2007, he followed with the release of the autobiographical 12-track album, "Destiny", which contains a full-length version of the theme song for "Mr. Belvedere" (whose original version was sung by Leon Redbone). In 2010, Portnoy released the 12-track album, "Songs Along The Way", which includes eleven newly penned compositions as well as the demo version of