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On this day in music history: October 6, 1982 - “Lionel Richie”, the debut album by Lionel Richie is released. Produced by James Anthony Carmichael and Lionel Richie, it is recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood, CA from November 1981 - July 1982. Shortly after completing work on “In The Pocket”, his ninth and final studio album with The Commodores, and the duet single “Endless Love” with Diana Ross, Lionel Richie begins recording his debut solo album. Working with longtime Commodores co-producer James Anthony Carmichael, the album features a number of top notch studio and prominent guest musicians including Greg Phillinganes, Clarence McDonald (keyboards), John “J.R.” Robinson, Leon “Ndugu” Chancler (drums), Nathan Watts, Nathan East (bass), Joe Walsh, Richie Zito, Fred Tackett (guitars), Ernie Watts (saxophone), Kenny Rogers, Richard Marx and Jimmy Connors (background vocals). Throughout the recording of the album, Lionel uses the same studio piano used by Carole King on “Tapestry”. Richie’s first solo album is a huge commercial success, spinning off three top five singles including “Truly” (#1 Pop, #2 R&B, #1 AC), “You Are” (#4 Pop, #2 R&B, #1 AC), and “My Love” (#5 Pop, #6 R&B, #1 AC). Richie also wins his first Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male for “Truly” in 1983. The album is remastered and reissued in 2003, with two bonus tracks added, including Richie’s solo demo recording of “Endless Love”, and the instrumental version of “You Are”.  Out of print on vinyl since the late 80’s, it is remastered and reissued as a 180 gram LP in December of 2017. The reissue replicates the gatefold sleeve design used on the original issue. “Lionel Richie” peaks at number three on the Billboard Top 200, spending one week at number one on the R&B album chart, and is certified 4x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/lens/chronicling-1970s-soul-and-funk-musicians.html?action=click&module=Features&pgtype=Homepage

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On this day in music history: August 14, 1965 - “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag Pt. 1” by James Brown hits #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart for 8 weeks, also peaking at #8 on the Hot 100 on September 4, 1965. Written and produced by James Brown, it is the second R&B chart topper for the “Godfather Of Soul”. The song is recorded in February 1965 when the band stops at a recording studio in Charlotte, North Carolina while en route to a gig in nearby Greensboro. The band run through the song a few times before recording the master take. In all, it is completed in under hour of studio time. Prior to its release, the nearly seven minute long track is split into two parts for single release, slightly sped up with reverb added. “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” marks an important turning point in James Brown’s career, pioneering the R&B sub genre known as Funk, as well as becoming his first major pop crossover hit. The single wins Brown his first Grammy Award, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 1966. The original unedited version is finally released on Brown’s career retrospective “Star Time!” in 1991. The track is featured at its original recorded speed, and without the reverb added to the hit single version. The song is covered by several artists over the years including Otis Redding, The McCoys, Jimmy Smith, Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, and Roger Troutman. James Brown’s original recording is also used in the film “Mrs. Doubtfire” in 1993. “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” is inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1999.

On this day in music history: August 5, 1972 - “Where Is The Love” by Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway hits #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart for 1 week, also topping the Adult Contemporary chart for 1 week on July 22, 1972, and peaking at #5 on the Hot 100 on August 12, 1972. Written by Ralph MacDonald and William Salter, it is the third single from the duos eponymously titled duet album. Originally written for The 5th Dimension, MacDonald and Salter never have the opportunity to get the song to the group. When Flack and Hathaway are recording their first duet album in 1971, MacDonald (a friend of Flack’s) play the song for her. Needing one more song for the album, she agrees to record it. Working jointly with producers Joel Dorn and Arif Mardin, they assemble a team of top studio musicians to play on the track that include Chuck Rainey (bass), Bernard Purdie (drums), Eric Gale (guitar), Jack Jennings (vibes), Flack and Hathaway (acoustic and electric piano), and Ralph MacDonald himself (percussion). The single wins the duo a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group. “Where Is The Love” is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.

On this day in music history: July 25, 1980 - “TP”, the fourth studio album by Teddy Pendergrass is released. Produced by Dexter Wansel, Cecil Womack, Cynthia Biggs, Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, Jerry Cohen, John R. Faith and Teddy Pendergrass, it is recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, PA and New York City from December 1979 - April 1980. Ending the 70’s as one of the top R&B male vocalists, as well as experiencing major crossover success, Teddy Pendergrass starts the new decade with no signs of slowing down. With Philadelphia International co-founders Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff having their attention focused elsewhere at the time, Pendergrass’ fourth solo album is the first not to include any creative input from the duo (acting as executive producers only), neither writing or producing. Instead, Teddy takes the production reigns himself for the first time, along with several others contributing to the project including Ashford & Simpson, McFadden & Whitehead, Jerry Cohen, Cecil Womack (Womack & Womack, Valentine Brothers), and fellow Philly International staff songwriter and producers Dexter Wansel, Cynthia Biggs and John R. Faith. Musically, “TP” differs from previous albums as it features no uptempo songs at all. Coming out of the Disco Era and perhaps trying to downplay that sound, the album consists mostly of ballads and mid tempo material that emphasize Teddy’s “ladies man” image. The album features two duets with R&B star Stephanie Mills including “Feel The Fire” and “Take Me In Your Arms Tonight”. The lead single “Can’t We Try” (#3 R&B, #52 Pop) is also featured in the film and on the soundtrack of the musical comedy “Roadie”. The track that makes the biggest impression is the follow up “Love T.K.O.” (#2 R&B, #44 Pop) written by Cecil Womack and Gip Nobel, Jr.. The sexy ballad quickly becomes another of Teddy’s signature songs, and one of his most widely covered. “T.K.O.” is also sampled a number of times, on Ahmad’s “Back In The Day (Remix)”, Compton’s Most Wanted’s “Can I Kill It?” and Xscape’s “Who Can I Run To?” (Remix). R&B artists Kenny Lattimore (“I Won’t Let You Down”) and Total (“Spend Some Time”) also sample the song. First released on CD in the late 80’s, it is reissued in 1993 on Right Stuff/EMI Records. In March of 2016, UK reissue label BBR Records remasters and reissues the the album, including five additional bonus tracks. “TP” peaks at number three on the Billboard R&B album chart, number fourteen on the Top 200, and is certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

Today in Hip Hop history…released 30 years ago from today…

On this day in music history: June 27, 1987 - “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” by Whitney Houston hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 2 weeks, also topping the Adult Contemporary chart for 3 weeks on July 4, 1987, and peaking at #2 on the R&B singles chart on June 20, 1987. Written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, it is the fourth chart topping single for the pop and R&B vocal superstar from Newark, NJ. After the massive whirlwind success of her self-titled debut album, Whitney Houston begins recording her sophomore release in the Fall of 1986. Having produced the smash “How Will I Know” on the first album, producer Narada Michael Walden produces the majority of the new album, working on eight of the eleven songs on the finished LP. George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, the husband and wife songwriting team responsible for writing “Know”, and the pop vocal duo known as Boy Meets Girl, are invited back to contribute a song to Whitney’s album. Initially, the pair come up with “Waiting For A Star To Fall” for Houston and submit it to Arista. The song is rejected as not being suitable for Whitney, and the duo end up keeping it for themselves, and scoring a major pop hit with “Fall” (#5 Pop) in 1988. Instead, they write the equally bouncy and infectious “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, in a similar vein to “How Will I Know”. All involved agree that it is a smash, and Whitney and Narada record the song. Issued as the first single from “Whitney” on April 30, 1987, it is an immediate smash. Entering the Hot 100 at #38 on May 16, 1987, it shoots to the top of the chart six weeks later. The 45 and import 12" versions of the single are backed with the non-LP track “Moment Of Truth” which also becomes a fan favorite. “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” wins Whitney her second Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female in 1988. Houston’s second album also enters the Billboard Top 200 at number one on the same date that “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” tops the singles chart, making her the first female artist in history to debut in the top spot on the US album chart. “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” is certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

On this day in music history: June 25, 1984 - “Purple Rain”, the sixth album by Prince is released. Produced by Prince, it is recorded at First Avenue (w/ mobile recording truck) in Minneapolis, MN, The Warehouse in St. Louis Park, MN, The Record Plant in New York, NY, and Sunset Sound in Hollywood, CA from August 1983 - March 1984. Serving as the soundtrack to Prince’s motion picture debut, it is the first album officially credited to Prince & The Revolution. Recording of the music for the film begins on August 3, 1983 when the band perform a live benefit show at First Avenue in Minneapolis. The performance marks the debut of new guitarist Wendy Melvoin, with the master versions of “I Would Die 4 U” (#8 Pop, #11 R&B), “Baby I’m A Star” and the title track being recorded at this show. These performances appear on the finished album with only minimal post production. The film and albums rousing opener “Let’s Go Crazy” (#1 Pop and R&B) is recorded at Prince’s rehearsal space “The Warehouse”, after he asks recording engineer Susan Rogers to pull the equipment out of his home studio. The basic track is cut live in spite of having no isolation between the musicians, and electrical interference from various appliances in the building. The track “Take Me With U” (#25 Pop, #40 R&B), the artists duet with Apollonia Kotero is originally slated to appear on Apollonia 6’s album, but Prince changes his mind and includes it on “Purple Rain”. Original LP copies are packaged with a poster of the band (taken during the video shoot for “When Doves Cry”), with a limited number of US promo copies (some stock copies in foreign territories) pressed on purple vinyl. Released four weeks ahead of the film, the soundtrack is an instant critical and commercial smash, launching Prince into worldwide super stardom. It spins off five singles including “When Doves Cry” (#1 Pop and R&B), and the title track (#2 Pop and #4 R&B), becoming the sixth best selling soundtrack of all time. It also wins two Grammy Awards in 1985. “Purple Rain” is inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2011, and in 2012 is added to the National Recording Registry by The Library Of Congress. On June 23, 2017, remastered editions of the album are reissued on CD, including a Deluxe Edition three CD + DVD set. The deluxe version includes the original album on disc one, with disc two featuring eleven bonus tracks of previously unreleased material. Disc three contains the 7" edits and 12" extended versions. The DVD features the “Prince & The Revolution Live!” concert video originally released in 1985. It is also issued with the new remaster on standard black vinyl, and as a picture disc. “Purple Rain” spends twenty four consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Top 200, nineteen consecutive weeks at number one on the R&B album chart, and is certified 13x Platinum in the US by the RIAA, earning a Diamond Certification.

Michael Jackson In JPN.