Bobby Caldwell

This article is about the musician and songwriter. For the rock drummer, see Bobby Caldwell (drummer). For other uses, see Robert Caldwell (disambiguation).
Bobby Caldwell

Bobby Caldwell, 2009
Background information
Born (1951-08-15) August 15, 1951
Manhattan, New York, US
Origin Miami, Florida, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, musician
Instruments Vocals, various instruments
Years active 1968–present
Labels TK Records, Atlantic Records, Polydor Records
Notable instruments
Vocals, various instruments

Robert Hunter "Bobby" Caldwell (born August 15, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who, despite a prolific musical output over his 30-year career, is still best known for his 1978 hit single "What You Won't Do for Love".[1]

Early life

Bobby Caldwell was born in Manhattan to Bob and Carolyn Caldwell, the hosts of Suppertime, an early television variety show. Living in Memphis and, chiefly, Miami (which he has called an influential "dumping ground" for all kinds of music), he took up piano and guitar as a preteen. Forming his own band at 17, he took the group on the road, later recording an album entitled Kathmandu.

Caldwell's first performances were more rock-oriented than the bulk of his career would indicate; early dates had him playing Jimi Hendrix and Cream covers in small clubs.

Recording career

Bobby Caldwell (What You Won't Do for Love)

Bobby Caldwell was signed to Miami label TK Records, home to many different kinds of musical acts: the pop-disco of KC & The Sunshine Band, the Latin-flavoured funk of Foxy, the down-home soul of George McCrae and his wife Gwen McCrae, and the futuristic, jazzy disco of Peter Brown.

For this label, Bobby recorded his self-titled solo album, scoring hits with the singles "What You Won't Do for Love", "My Flame", "Can't Say Goodbye" and, in Britain, "Down for the Third Time." In order to ensure significant airplay on the African American-dominated R&B radio format of the time, Caldwell's management took certain steps – such as portraying the artist only in silhouette on the cover and in advertisements – to hide the fact that he was white. The secret was, for obvious reasons, shattered by his first live appearances.

After the tracks were first recorded and the record was considered "complete," TK owner Henry Stone said that he enjoyed the album but couldn't hear a hit. Attempting to address this issue, Caldwell and his band re-entered the studio, laying down the song's now-familiar rhythm tracks. After he quickly penned a set of lyrics, "What You Won't Do for Love" was born.

Reaching the top ten on both the pop (#9) R&B (#6) AC (#10) charts, the song proved to be a success, though a bit of a surprise one due both to the haste with which it was written and the fact that Caldwell assumed "My Flame", the LP's second track ("What You Won't Do for Love" is the sixth), would wind up as the standout single. The album which contained it was later re-released under the song's title. The single was also marketed in the form of a distinctive red heart-shaped 45-RPM vinyl record for Valentines Day (advertised as "the single that gets to the heart of the matter"), now a collector's item frequently seen on eBay. Although the record is heart-shaped, the grooves on the vinyl, of course, are round, even though the sleeve would lead one to think otherwise. (The What You Won't Do for Love album also received a novelty release on yellow vinyl.)

While the original song still receives frequent airplay today, it has been covered, re-made (once, in 1998, by Caldwell himself) and sampled many times since 1978. Phyllis Hyman for her Living All Alone album, Go West's version rose high in the adult contemporary charts, and Boyz II Men's version in 2004, 2Pac's "Do for Love," which samples the lyric, also attained a good deal of popularity. Goldie covered it on his 1998 EP Ring of Saturn (the lyrics were sung by Diane Charlemagne). In 2007 it was given a funky house makeover by Central Avenue featuring Simon Green. In addition, "My Flame" was covered by actress/singer Vanessa Williams for her 1999 Greatest Hits CD and also sampled by Bad-Boy recording artist The Notorious B.I.G. and integrated into the song "Sky's the Limit"; which was also another major Rap/Hip-Hop hit. Another version is to notice from Ricky Peterson in the 1990s. The song was also heavily sampled on Oakland rap group The Luniz "Playa Hata" single. Also sampled by Kool G Rap, in the song "Blowin Up in the World". More recently John Legend's "Open Your Eyes" contains an interplotation of Caldwell's song. Renowned hip-hop producer Jay Dilla sampled Open Your Eyes for the popular Common song The Light released in 2000.

Cat in the Hat through August Moon

Caldwell's sophomore period involved the considerable task of following up such a staggering success as What You Won't Do for Love; during this time, his Japanese audience steadily eclipsed his American one. Cat in the Hat (1980) and Carry On (1982), were artistic improvements upon the first album, but did not match its commercial success. They were, however, bestsellers in Japan – The Cat went platinum and Carry On gold—and sealed Bobby's reputation as a superstar in that country.

1983 saw Bobby Caldwell put out August Moon, a project bearing a much more rock- than soul-oriented sound, in Japan only; it was released in the United States in the 1990s.

Heart of Mine through Where Is Love

Though August Moon went gold, Caldwell subsequently took a hiatus from recording, instead directing his efforts toward composing songs for other performers, most notably "Heart of Mine" for Boz Scaggs, "The Next Time I Fall" for Amy Grant and Peter Cetera, "Janet" for the Commodores, "Niagara Falls" and "What Kind Of Man Would I Be?" for Chicago, "The Real Thing" for Kalapana and "All or Nothing at All" for Al Jarreau.

In 1989 he contributed lead vocals to and co-produced "In the Name of Love," a track on saxophonist Richard Elliot's album "Take to the Skies."

Caldwell sold albums at a steady pace throughout the 1990s, producing 1991's Stuck on You, recorded with a 60-piece orchestra, and 1993's Where Is Love, the latter having been recorded with musicians who had previously played with Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett along with a 24-piece orchestra.

During this period, the airplay of his music shifted from the declining R&B radio format to the then-nascent Smooth Jazz stations. Caldwell is frequently cited as a staple of the genre, with "What You Won't Do for Love" as well as lesser-known singles such as "Real Thing," "All or Nothing at All" (both from Heart of Mine) still featuring prominently on programmers' playlists.

Soul Survivor through Come Rain or Come Shine

1995 saw the release of Soul Survivor, marking a turn toward coverage of others' songs. Though a handful of originals were present, the album was for the most part focused on, appropriately, soul standards such as "Walk on By" and "Your Precious Love".

He later turned to singing nothing but big band standards and original, yet big band standard-like songs (such as the much-promoted "Tomorrow") on 1996's Blue Condition and 1999's Come Rain or Come Shine. Blue Condition was recorded in real-time, live with a sixty-piece string section and twenty-piece jazz band in the same Capitol Records studios used by such icons as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Bobby Darin. At this time, his "I Get a Kick Out of You" was played on adult contemporary radio stations, across the country, and was heard on national TV commercials.

Perfect Island Nights

In 2005, Caldwell released Perfect Island Nights, his first album of mostly original studio material since 1993. The record features a new version of "Rain", a track which made its debut on his second anthology release, Time and Again, as well as versions of Phil Perry's "Perfect Island Night", "Where Is the Love" (rendered as a duet with Deniece Williams) and "Our Day Will Come". Guest players include saxophonist George Shelby and percussionist Russ Miller.

Bobby Caldwell Live at The Blue Note Tokyo

Caldwell's 2007 release of live standards on his own label, Starmine Records.

House of Cards

Released on August 23, 2012 House of Cards, on Caldwell's Starmine Records label is an eclectic mix of all new Caldwell originals. The first single, "What About Me" features classic Bobby Caldwell vocals. Tracks on House of Cards feature Dave Koz, Andrew Neu and David Horgan. Caldwell also played a lot of guitar and bass on this album. It shows the many musical facets of this long-time singer/songwriter.

After Dark

Released in 2014 - Bobby Caldwell is back with a brand new album of big band standards, which includes a new rendition of his own classic "What You Won't Do For Love." "After Dark" features a 17 piece big band. With a roster of notable sax band members over the years, namely Dave Koz, Richard Elliot and Boney James, Bobby’s current sax sensation, Andrew Neu, delivers an incredible arrangement of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World". Sinatra has no bigger fan than Bobby Caldwell. After Dark includes some of the lesser known songs from The Chairman of the Board, along with some notable hits like, "I Only Have Eyes For You" and "Come Fly With Me." The album also includes "In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning."

Film soundtracks

Caldwell has contributed music to a number of movies. He has both written and performed original songs for 1986's Back to School ("Educated Girl"), 1988's Mac & Me ("Take Me, I'll Follow You"), 1988's Salsa ("Puerto Rico") and its sequel ("Every Teardrop").

Songs penned by Caldwell but performed by others have appeared in films such as 1989's Ghostbusters II ("The Promised Land," performed by James "J.T." Taylor, the lead singer of Kool & the Gang) and 1987's Princess from the Moon ("Stay With Me," performed by Peter Cetera).

Due to what Caldwell has cited in interviews as a lower cost of use than the original recordings, his versions of big band standards have appeared in several films. Examples include 2002's LakeBoat and 2001's S1m0ne.

Caldwell also composed and performed "Don't Quit," the theme song for Body by Jake's workout video of the same name. He also appears in the associated music video, musically urging an actor portraying a weak young man to engage in weight training in order to defeat the bully of a local beach.

A clip from "What You Won't Do For Love" is heard in the movie Donnie Brasco, playing from the car radio.

Sampling

Caldwell's music has been a popular source material for other artists, sometimes of differing genres, to sample. Of the many releases that make use of pieces of Caldwell's work, the following are some of the most prominent:

Sampling "What You Won't Do for Love"

Sampling "My Flame"

Sampling other songs

Current

As of 2015, Bobby Caldwell is currently doing live performances. His latest album, After Dark was released in 2014. Caldwell recorded a collaboration album with Jack Splash under the alias Cool Uncle. The album, which was released on 13 November features collaborations with Jessie Ware (who previously recorded her own version of Caldwell's "What You Won't Do for Love"), Mayer Hawthorne and Cee-Lo Green.[2]

Acting

Aside from a minor role in 1988's Salsa, Caldwell portrayed Frank Sinatra from October 1999 to January 2000 in the Las Vegas stage musical The Rat Pack is Back, garnering positive reviews.

Japanese audience

Like several other singers (such as Boz Scaggs, Peter Cetera, Janis Ian and Daryl Hall), Caldwell has attained a great deal of popularity in Japan, where he has been nicknamed "Mister AOR." (In Japan, the term "AOR", or "Adult Oriented Rock", is used to describe the style commonly called "Adult Contemporary" or "Yacht Rock" in the United States.) In 1992, he received the nation's equivalent of a Grammy as the "best international artist."

TV

Discography

Albums

# year title comments
1 1978 Bobby Caldwell No. 21 US Albums, No. 7 US R&B Albums. USA: 2x platinum, Japan: platinum.
2 1980 Cat in the Hat No. 113 US Albums, No. 46 US R&B Albums. USA: gold, Japan: platinum.
3 1982 Carry On No. 133 US Albums, No. 41 US R&B Albums. Japan: gold.
4 1984 August Moon Initially a Japan-only release, Japan: gold.
5 1988 Heart of Mine 2x platinum, Ad Lib magazine's Best Record of the Year 1989 award.
6 1991 Stuck on You No. 5 US Jazz Albums, No. 65 US R&B Albums. Released in Japan as Solid Ground.
7 1993 Where is Love No. 13 US Jazz Albums
8 1995 Soul Survivor No. 23 US R&B Albums
9 1996 Blue Condition No. 12 US Jazz Albums
10 1999 Come Rain or Shine No. 8 US Jazz Albums
11 2005 Perfect Island Nights
12 2010 The Consummate Caldwell [3]
13 2012 House of Cards
14 2014 After Dark
15 2015 Cool Uncle Cool Uncle - featuring Bobby Caldwell, produced by Jack Splash [4]

Live Albums

year title comments
2007 Bobby Caldwell Live at The Blue Note Tokyo

Compilation Albums

year title comments
1998 Timeline: The Anthology No. 8 US Jazz Albums
2001 Time and Again: The Anthology Part 2

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US
Pop
US
R&B
US
A/C
US
Dan
1978 "What You Won't Do for Love" 9 6 10 Bobby Caldwell
1979 "My Flame" 40
"Can't Say Goodbye" 103 36
1980 "Coming Down from Love" 42 28 Cat in the Hat
1982 "Jamaica" 105 54 Carry On
"All of My Love" 77 67
1985 "Don't Quit" 53 August Moon
1988 "Take Me, I'll Follow You" Heart of Mine
1991 "Real Thing" 41 Stuck on You
1993 "Janet" 88 Where Is Love
1996 "I Give In" 125 53 Soul Survivor
"—" denotes single did not chart or was not released

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.