Let's Hear It for the Boy (album)

Let's Hear It for the Boy
Studio album by Deniece Williams
Released	April 1984
Recorded	1983-1984
Genre	R&B, soul, quiet storm, funk, dance
Length	40:53
Label	Columbia, CBS (originally) Sony
Producer	Deniece Williams, George Duke
Deniece Williams chronology
I'm So Proud (1983) Let's Hear It for the Boy (1984) Hot on the Trail (1984)
Singles from Let's Hear It for the Boy
"Let's Hear It for the Boy" Released: April 13, 1984 "Next Love" Released: 1984 "Black Butterfly" Released: 1984

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Let's Hear It for the Boy is an album by American recording artist Deniece Williams released in 1984 for Columbia and CBS Records. The album reached number 10 on the Billboard pop chart and number 26 on the R&B Albums.^{[2] [3]}

It was produced by American multi-instrumentalist George Duke who also actively participated on the record.

The album features urban hits "Black Butterfly", "Next Love" and the international hit "Let's Hear It for the Boy" which was featured on the musical-drama Footloose and its soundtrack album.

Production

Deniece Williams produced six tracks of the album, and George Duke produced four more.^[4] The production of the album was completed in early May 1984 before the album was released a few weeks later.^[5]

Reception

Carl Matthews of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper called the album "more tempo than her previous releases."^[4]

Track listing

Side A

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Let's Hear It for the Boy"	Dean Pitchford, Tom Snow	4:18
2.	"I Want You"	Peter Couch, Deniece Williams	2:50
3.	"Picking Up the Pieces"	Peter Couch, Deniece Williams	4:40
4.	"Black Butterfly"	Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil	4:25
5.	"Next Love"	George Duke, Deniece Williams	4:23

Side B

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Haunting Me"	George Merrill, Shannon Rubicam, Deniece Williams	4:57
2.	"Don't Tell Me We Have Nothing"	George Merrill, Shannon Rubicam	4:00
3.	"Blind Dating"	Michele Val Jean, Robert Brookins, Deniece Williams	3:39
4.	"Wrapped Up"	Andrew Barrett, George McMahon	3:39
5.	"Whiter Than Snow"	Traditional	3:44

Participants

Production

• Larkin Arnold – executive producer
• Murray Dvorkin – assistant engineer
• Mitch Gibson – assistant engineer
• Constance Guzman – production assistant
• Tom Perry, Mick Guzauski – engineers
• Nick Spigel – assistant engineer
• Tommy Vicari – engineer, Remixing

Personnel

• Deniece Williams – arranger, producer, vocals, background vocals
• Jeff Baxter – guitar
• Paul Jackson, Jr. – guitar
• Michael Sembello – guitar
• Nathan East – bass
• Fred Washington – bass
• Ronnie Laws – drums, tenor sax
• Ricky Lawson – drums
• Roosevelt Christmas III – background vocals
• Shannon Rubicam – background vocals
• Oren Waters – background vocals
• Paulinho Da Costa – percussion
• Sheila E. – percussion
• George del Barrio – string arrangements
• Richard Elliot – lyricon
• Russell Ferrante – Fender Rhodes, piano
• Hubert Laws – flute
• Kevin Grady – synthesizer
• Leon Pendarvis – arranger, synthesizer
• George Merrill – drum programming, Jupiter 8, background vocals
• George Duke – drum programming, Fender Rhodes, keyboards, Memory Moog, producer, Prophet synthesizer, Special Effects, synthesizer, Vocoder

Chart performance

Chart (1984)	Peak position[2]
US Billboard Top 200 Albums	26
US Billboard Top Black Albums	10

References

1. Allmusic review
2. "AMG: deniece-williams on the Billboard charts". All Music Guide. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
3. "Discogs: deniece-williams at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
4. Matthews, Carl (June 2, 1984). "Sounds: Deniece Williams". The Afro-American. Baltimore. p. 11. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
5. "Rolling Stones plan to do video, concert in L.A. during Olympics". The Ledger. May 3, 1984. p. 2A. Retrieved October 23, 2014.