I Want to Know What Love Is is only a book.
`` I Want to Know What Love Is '' is a power ballad by the British-American rock band Foreigner . It was released in November 1984 as the lead single from their fifth album , Agent Provocateur . The song hit number one in both the United Kingdom and the United States and is the group 's biggest hit to date . It remains one of the band 's best-known songs and most enduring radio hits , charting in the top 25 in 2000 , 2001 , and 2002 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Recurrents chart . `` I Want to Know What Love Is '' has continued to garner critical acclaim , and is listed as one of Rolling Stone Magazine 's greatest songs of all time at # 479 .