Street Player

Street Player
Studio album by Rufus & Chaka Khan
Released	January 17, 1978
Recorded	1977
Studio	Dawnbreaker Recording Studios (San Fernando, California)
Genre	Funk soul
Length	40:32
Label	ABC AA 1049
Producer	Rufus, Roy Halee
Rufus chronology
Ask Rufus (with Chaka Khan) (1977) Street Player (with Chaka Khan) (1978) Numbers (1979)
Chaka Khan chronology
Ask Rufus (with Rufus) (1977) Street Player (with Rufus) (1978) Chaka (1978)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	(not rated) [2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[3]

Street Player is the gold-selling sixth studio album by funk band Rufus (billed as Rufus & Chaka Khan), released on the ABC Records label in 1978. Street Player was the band's third album to top Billboard's R&B Albums chart and also reached #14 on Pop. The album includes the singles "Stay" (US R&B #3, US Pop #48) and "Blue Love" (US R&B #34).

History

In 1978, Rufus and Chaka Khan was still a top-selling band. Their last four releases had gone platinum and the group continued to sell out in arenas as a top headlining act with fiery Khan leading the way. By this point, Khan's stardom outside the group had grown and it led to the group drifting apart. While Khan opted to stay a member of the group, other members were uncomfortable that Khan was now offered solo contracts.

After the release of this record, Khan would sign a solo deal with Warner Bros. Records. Khan would later have a hit with her debut album, which featured the hit, "I'm Every Woman". Due to their popularity and the strong cohesiveness of the songs, Street Player became their fifth consecutive platinum album. While Khan went on to a solo career, Rufus cut Numbers, in 1979, without her. Khan, however, didn't leave the group, returning for their Quincy Jones-produced Masterjam later that year.

Also after the departure of original drummer Andre Fischer, Richard "Moon" Calhoun took over on this album on drums. This would be his only album with the group. Additionally, the jazz/rock band Chicago featured a version of the title track on their 1979 album Chicago 13, with Peter Cetera on lead vocals. The song was co-written by Chicago's drummer at that time, Danny Seraphine. The track "Stay" was later covered by Erykah Badu on her 1997 album Live.

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Street Player"	David Wolinski, Danny Seraphine	4:54
2.	"Stay"	Richard Calhoun, Chaka Khan	5:41
3.	"Turn"	Bobby Watson, Wolinski	4:43
4.	"Best of Your Heart"	Watson, Wolinski	3:45
5.	"Finale" (Instrumental)	Watson, Wolinski	2:10

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
6.	"Blue Love"	Calhoun, Wolinski	3:18
7.	"Stranger to Love"	Wolinski	3:33
8.	"Take Time" (Instrumental)	Tony Maiden	4:16
9.	"Destiny"	David Batteau, Richard Holland	4:25
10.	"Change Your Ways"	Maiden, Traude Sapik	3:27

The listing of tracks on the back of the album ( Canadian distribution { GRT of Canada Ltd. } ) is in the following order :

| Destiny | Stranger To Love | Street Player | Stay | Best Of Your Heart | Finale | Take Time | Blue Love | Turn | Change Your Ways

The listing on the album labels ( side 1 & 2 ) is as on the main listing ^[4]

Personnel

• Chaka Khan – lead vocals, background vocals
• Tony Maiden – guitar, percussion, lead vocals, background vocals
• Kevin Murphy – keyboards
• Bobby Watson – bass, percussion
• David "Hawk" Wolinski – keyboards, background vocals
• Richard "Moon" Calhoun – drums, percussion, background vocals
• Seawind – horns
• Jerry Hey – trumpet, flugelhorn
• Kim Hutchcroft – saxophone, flute
• William Reichenbach – trombone
• Larry Williams – saxophone, flute, piccolo
• Helen Lowe – additional background vocals
• Everett Bryson, Jr. – percussion

Production

• Rufus, Roy Halee – producers
• Roy Halee, George Belle – engineers
• Clare Fischer – string arrangements & conductor
• Seawind, Rufus – horn arrangements
• Brian Gardner – audio mastering

Charts

Album

Chart (1978)	Peak [5]
U.S. Billboard Top LPs	14
U.S. Billboard Top Soul LPs	1

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions
		US [5]	US R&B [5]
1978	"Stay"	38	3
	"Blue Love"	105	34

See also

• List of number-one R&B albums of 1978 (U.S.)

References

1. Lytle, Craig. "Street Player review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
2. McEwen, Joe. "Street Player review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
3. Gersten, Russell (1983). "Rufus". In Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John. The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House/Rolling Stone Press. p. 438. ISBN 0394721071.
4. Physical copy
5. "US Charts > Rufus". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-10-19.

External links

• Street Player at Discogs