Narada Michael Walden (born
Michael Walden, April 23, 1952,
KalamazooKalamazoo is the largest city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 76,145...
,
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
,
drummerA drummer is a person who plays drums, particularly a drum kit , marching percussion or hand drums. The term percussionist applies to a musician performing on any percussion instrument, but usually refers to one who plays classical or Latin percussion. Most bands for Rock, Pop, Jazz, R&B etc...
,
singerSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
, and
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
. He was given the name
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Hindu tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana. Narada is portrayed as a travelling monk with the ability to visit distant worlds or planets, lokas in Sanskrit...
by guru
Sri ChinmoyChinmoy Kumar Ghose was an Indian spiritual teacher and philosopher who emigrated to the U.S. in 1964. An author, composer, artist and athlete, he was perhaps best known for holding public events on the theme of inner peace and world harmony...
in the early 1970s and his musical career spans three decades, in which he was awarded several gold, platinum and
multi-platinumMusic recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped a certain number of copies.Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after the precious materials gold, platinum and diamond...
awards. Michael Walden has also owned and operated Tarpan Studios, a well-known
recording studioA recording studio is a facility for sound recording. Ideally, the space is specially designed by an acoustician to achieve the desired acoustic properties...
in
San RafaelSan Rafael is the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2007, the U.S...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, since the mid-1980s.
Number one hits have included several collaborations
- Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American recording artist, actress, and former fashion model. A relative to several prominent soul singers, including her mother Cissy Houston, cousins Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick, and godmother Aretha Franklin, Houston began singing at her New Jersey church as a...
- "How Will I Know
"How Will I Know" is the third hit single from Whitney Houston's self-titled first album. The single was released in November 1985 and was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam of Boy Meets Girl fame, who wrote it for Janet Jackson. The song is an electric dance tune about the singer...
"
- "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody " is the first single from Whitney Houston's second studio album Whitney. It was produced by Narada Michael Walden, and written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam of the band Boy Meets Girl, who had previously written the number-one Whitney Houston hit "How Will I...
"
- "So Emotional
"So Emotional" is a song recorded by American pop/ R&B singer Whitney Houston. The song was the third single from her second album Whitney, and was released in November 1987....
"
- "All the Man That I Need
"All the Man That I Need" is the second single from Whitney Houston's third album I'm Your Baby Tonight.- History :The song was written by Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore; a version was released by Linda Clifford a decade earlier...
"
- Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart...
- "I Don't Wanna Cry
"I Don't Wanna Cry" is a song written by Mariah Carey and Narada Michael Walden, and produced by Walden for Carey's debut album, Mariah Carey . The ballad was released as the album's fourth single in the second quarter of 1991. It became another U.S. number 1 single for Carey...
- "Heartbreaker
"Heartbreaker" is a song recorded by American singer Mariah Carey for her ninth studio album, Rainbow . Written by Carey, the track features a guest appearance from American rapper Jay-Z. The singer wrote the song, initially planning for it to be featured in a movie project...
- Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as "The Queen of Soul". Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock, soul, blues, pop, R&B and Gospel music...
- "Freeway of Love
"Freeway of Love" is a Grammy Award-winning song released as the first single from Aretha Franklin's 1985 album Who's Zoomin' Who?. It was very successful in the United States, peaking at the #3 position of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and topping the Hot R&B Singles chart for five weeks ....
"
- Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as "The Queen of Soul". Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock, soul, blues, pop, R&B and Gospel music...
& George MichaelGeorgios Kyriacos Panayiotou , best known as George Michael, is a two-time Grammy Award winning, English singer-songwriter, who has had a career as frontman of the duo Wham! as well as a soul-influenced, solo pop musician...
- "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)
"I Knew You Were Waiting " was a song performed by Aretha Franklin and George Michael in a duet in 1987. It was written by Simon Climie and Dennis Morgan.-Chart performance:...
" (duet)
- Diana Ross
Diana Ross is an American singer and actress. During the 1960s, she helped shape the Motown Sound as lead singer of The Supremes, before leaving the group for a solo career on January 14, 1970...
- "Take Me Higher
Take Me Higher is a 1995 album by American soul singer Diana Ross released on the Motown label. The album featured production from urban adult contemporary producers such as Narada Michael Walden, Brenda Russell, Jon-John and the Boom Brothers, the latter two coming from Babyface's production company...
"
- Regina Belle
Regina Belle is a multi Grammy award winning singer-songwriter who first surfaced in the late 1980s. She is notable for her Grammy award winning duet with Peabo Bryson, "A Whole New World".-Biography:...
- Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Although its origins are complex, it is generally regarded as a spinoff from Jefferson Airplane and evolved from a 1970 science fiction-themed concept album by then-Airplane member Paul Kantner entitled Blows...
- "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is a song co-written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, recorded by Starship. Featured as the theme to the romantic comedy film Mannequin, it hit #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 on April 4, 1987 and reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks the following month and...
"
- Lisa Fischer
Lisa Fischer is an American Grammy Award-winning R&B vocalist, known for her beautiful image, impressive vocal range and talents that reach high up to the whistle register, and her 1991 smash hit single "How Can I Ease the Pain". Fischer has been recognized as one of the most successful session...
- "How Can I Ease the Pain
How Can I Ease the Pain is the title of a number-one R&B single by Lisa Fischer. The hit song spent two weeks at number-one on the US R&B chart . In 1992 the single won a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Female and it also won a 1992 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal...
"
- Tevin Campbell
Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter. Campbell scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s...
- "Tell Me What You Want Me to Do
"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do" is the title of a number-one R&B single by singer Tevin Campbell. To date, the single is Campbell's biggest hit peaking at # 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending one week at number-one on the US R&B chart. The hit song is also Tevin's one and only #1 Adult...
"
- Al Jarreau
Alwyn Lopez "Al" Jarreau is an American singer. A seven-time Grammy Award winner, he is the only vocalist in history to win in three separate categories: jazz, pop, and R&B...
He has contributed to a diverse range of musical genres including
rockRock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States after World War II in the late 1940s, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music and gospel music scenes...
,
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
,
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
, R&B and
fusionFusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s from a mixture of elements of jazz such as its focus on improvisation with the rhythms and grooves of funk and R&B and the beats and heavily amplified electric instruments and electronic...
.
He was awarded Producer of the Year in 1987, Album of the Year for the 1993 movie
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized...
The BodyguardThe Bodyguard is a 1992 romantic-thriller film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. In the film, Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character, a music star, from an unknown stalker...
and the Song of the Year in 1985 for Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love." He was also named as one of the "Top Ten Producers With the Most Number One Hits" by Billboard magazine.
His stage career included appearances with
John McLaughlinJohn McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English jazz fusion guitarist and composer...
and the Mahavishnu Orchestra (where he replaced legendary drummer
Billy CobhamWilliam E. Cobham , is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader.Coming to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Cobham is, in the words of critic Steve Huey, "generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer,"...
), and
Jeff BeckGeoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He was one of the three noted guitarists — the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page — to have played with The Yardbirds...
(on Beck's album
WiredWired is a 1976 solo album by Jeff Beck. It was this album that started a fruitful collaboration with former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist Jan Hammer who Beck toured with shortly thereafter...
).
His first album,
Garden of Love Light, was released in 1976 and included the track "Delightful".
Narada Michael Walden (born
Michael Walden, April 23, 1952,
KalamazooKalamazoo is the largest city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 76,145...
,
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
,
drummerA drummer is a person who plays drums, particularly a drum kit , marching percussion or hand drums. The term percussionist applies to a musician performing on any percussion instrument, but usually refers to one who plays classical or Latin percussion. Most bands for Rock, Pop, Jazz, R&B etc...
,
singerSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
, and
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
. He was given the name
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Hindu tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana. Narada is portrayed as a travelling monk with the ability to visit distant worlds or planets, lokas in Sanskrit...
by guru
Sri ChinmoyChinmoy Kumar Ghose was an Indian spiritual teacher and philosopher who emigrated to the U.S. in 1964. An author, composer, artist and athlete, he was perhaps best known for holding public events on the theme of inner peace and world harmony...
in the early 1970s and his musical career spans three decades, in which he was awarded several gold, platinum and
multi-platinumMusic recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped a certain number of copies.Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after the precious materials gold, platinum and diamond...
awards. Michael Walden has also owned and operated Tarpan Studios, a well-known
recording studioA recording studio is a facility for sound recording. Ideally, the space is specially designed by an acoustician to achieve the desired acoustic properties...
in
San RafaelSan Rafael is the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2007, the U.S...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, since the mid-1980s.
Achievements
Number one hits have included several collaborations
- Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American recording artist, actress, and former fashion model. A relative to several prominent soul singers, including her mother Cissy Houston, cousins Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick, and godmother Aretha Franklin, Houston began singing at her New Jersey church as a...
- "How Will I Know
"How Will I Know" is the third hit single from Whitney Houston's self-titled first album. The single was released in November 1985 and was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam of Boy Meets Girl fame, who wrote it for Janet Jackson. The song is an electric dance tune about the singer...
"
- "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody " is the first single from Whitney Houston's second studio album Whitney. It was produced by Narada Michael Walden, and written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam of the band Boy Meets Girl, who had previously written the number-one Whitney Houston hit "How Will I...
"
- "So Emotional
"So Emotional" is a song recorded by American pop/ R&B singer Whitney Houston. The song was the third single from her second album Whitney, and was released in November 1987....
"
- "All the Man That I Need
"All the Man That I Need" is the second single from Whitney Houston's third album I'm Your Baby Tonight.- History :The song was written by Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore; a version was released by Linda Clifford a decade earlier...
"
- Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart...
- "I Don't Wanna Cry
"I Don't Wanna Cry" is a song written by Mariah Carey and Narada Michael Walden, and produced by Walden for Carey's debut album, Mariah Carey . The ballad was released as the album's fourth single in the second quarter of 1991. It became another U.S. number 1 single for Carey...
- "Heartbreaker
"Heartbreaker" is a song recorded by American singer Mariah Carey for her ninth studio album, Rainbow . Written by Carey, the track features a guest appearance from American rapper Jay-Z. The singer wrote the song, initially planning for it to be featured in a movie project...
- Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as "The Queen of Soul". Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock, soul, blues, pop, R&B and Gospel music...
- "Freeway of Love
"Freeway of Love" is a Grammy Award-winning song released as the first single from Aretha Franklin's 1985 album Who's Zoomin' Who?. It was very successful in the United States, peaking at the #3 position of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and topping the Hot R&B Singles chart for five weeks ....
"
- Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as "The Queen of Soul". Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock, soul, blues, pop, R&B and Gospel music...
& George MichaelGeorgios Kyriacos Panayiotou , best known as George Michael, is a two-time Grammy Award winning, English singer-songwriter, who has had a career as frontman of the duo Wham! as well as a soul-influenced, solo pop musician...
- "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)
"I Knew You Were Waiting " was a song performed by Aretha Franklin and George Michael in a duet in 1987. It was written by Simon Climie and Dennis Morgan.-Chart performance:...
" (duet)
- Diana Ross
Diana Ross is an American singer and actress. During the 1960s, she helped shape the Motown Sound as lead singer of The Supremes, before leaving the group for a solo career on January 14, 1970...
- "Take Me Higher
Take Me Higher is a 1995 album by American soul singer Diana Ross released on the Motown label. The album featured production from urban adult contemporary producers such as Narada Michael Walden, Brenda Russell, Jon-John and the Boom Brothers, the latter two coming from Babyface's production company...
"
- Regina Belle
Regina Belle is a multi Grammy award winning singer-songwriter who first surfaced in the late 1980s. She is notable for her Grammy award winning duet with Peabo Bryson, "A Whole New World".-Biography:...
- Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Although its origins are complex, it is generally regarded as a spinoff from Jefferson Airplane and evolved from a 1970 science fiction-themed concept album by then-Airplane member Paul Kantner entitled Blows...
- "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is a song co-written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, recorded by Starship. Featured as the theme to the romantic comedy film Mannequin, it hit #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 on April 4, 1987 and reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks the following month and...
"
- Lisa Fischer
Lisa Fischer is an American Grammy Award-winning R&B vocalist, known for her beautiful image, impressive vocal range and talents that reach high up to the whistle register, and her 1991 smash hit single "How Can I Ease the Pain". Fischer has been recognized as one of the most successful session...
- "How Can I Ease the Pain
How Can I Ease the Pain is the title of a number-one R&B single by Lisa Fischer. The hit song spent two weeks at number-one on the US R&B chart . In 1992 the single won a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Female and it also won a 1992 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal...
"
- Tevin Campbell
Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter. Campbell scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s...
- "Tell Me What You Want Me to Do
"Tell Me What You Want Me to Do" is the title of a number-one R&B single by singer Tevin Campbell. To date, the single is Campbell's biggest hit peaking at # 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending one week at number-one on the US R&B chart. The hit song is also Tevin's one and only #1 Adult...
"
- Al Jarreau
Alwyn Lopez "Al" Jarreau is an American singer. A seven-time Grammy Award winner, he is the only vocalist in history to win in three separate categories: jazz, pop, and R&B...
He has contributed to a diverse range of musical genres including
rockRock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States after World War II in the late 1940s, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music and gospel music scenes...
,
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
,
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
, R&B and
fusionFusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s from a mixture of elements of jazz such as its focus on improvisation with the rhythms and grooves of funk and R&B and the beats and heavily amplified electric instruments and electronic...
.
He was awarded Producer of the Year in 1987, Album of the Year for the 1993 movie
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized...
The BodyguardThe Bodyguard is a 1992 romantic-thriller film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. In the film, Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character, a music star, from an unknown stalker...
and the Song of the Year in 1985 for Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love." He was also named as one of the "Top Ten Producers With the Most Number One Hits" by Billboard magazine.
Performing career
His stage career included appearances with
John McLaughlinJohn McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English jazz fusion guitarist and composer...
and the Mahavishnu Orchestra (where he replaced legendary drummer
Billy CobhamWilliam E. Cobham , is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader.Coming to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Cobham is, in the words of critic Steve Huey, "generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer,"...
), and
Jeff BeckGeoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He was one of the three noted guitarists — the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page — to have played with The Yardbirds...
(on Beck's album
WiredWired is a 1976 solo album by Jeff Beck. It was this album that started a fruitful collaboration with former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist Jan Hammer who Beck toured with shortly thereafter...
).
His first album,
Garden of Love Light, was released in 1976 and included the track "Delightful". The lone single released from the album, it charted at #81 on the R&B charts in the spring of 1977.
His 1979 album
Awakening peaked at #15 on the R&B charts, spawning a Top 10 hit with "I Don't Want Nobody Else (To Dance With You )". Later that year, his album
The Dance of Life yielded the Top 5 single "I Shoulda Loved Ya". Nine years later in 1988, he scored a UK top 10 hit and a #1 US Dance hit, with "
Divine EmotionsDivine Emotions is a 1988 single by Narada Michael Walden. A successful producer, Walden billed himself for his later music releases. After producing acts like Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston in the mid 1980's, Walden released Divine Emotions, which reached number on one the dance charts...
" under the name
NaradaNarada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Hindu tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana. Narada is portrayed as a travelling monk with the ability to visit distant worlds or planets, lokas in Sanskrit...
. His biggest commercial hit in Europe was the 1985 duet "Gimme Gimme Gimme" with
Patti AustinPatti Austin is an American Grammy-winning R&B and jazz music singer.-Career:She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was only five...
which peaked at #5 in the UK and reached #1 in Sweden.
Albums
- Garden of Love Light - 1976
- I Cry, I Smile - 1977
- Awakening - 1979
- The Dance of Life - 1979
- Victory - 1980
- Confidence - 1982
- Looking At You, Looking At Me - 1983
- The Nature of Things - 1985
- Divine Emotions - 1988
Singles
- "Delightful" (1977)
- "Give Your Love a Chance" (1979)
- "I Don't Want Nobody Else (to Dance with You)" (1979)
- "I Shoulda Loved Ya" (1980)
- "Tonight I'm Alright" (1980)
- "The Real Thang" (1980)
- "Summer Lady" (1982)
- "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" (1983)
- "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
"Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" is a 1985 song performed by Narada Michael Walden and Patti Austin....
" (1985)
- "Divine Emotions" (as Narada) (1988)
Soundtracks
- Beverly Hills Cop II
Beverly Hills Cop II is a 1987 action-comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Tony Scott. It is the first sequel in the Beverly Hills Cop series. Murphy returns as Detroit police detective Axel Foley, who returns to Beverly Hills, California to track down a group of international...
- Perfect
Perfect is a 1985 American feature film, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta. The film was based on a series of articles that appeared in Rolling Stone magazine in the late 1970s, chronicling the popularity of Los Angeles health clubs amongst single people.-Plot:The film is about a New York...
- Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill is the sixteenth official entry in the James Bond series, and the first one not based on an Ian Fleming novel. While enjoying a largely positive critical reception, it was controversial since it was the first James Bond film to be given a PG-13 rating, being noted as significantly...
- The Bodyguard
The Bodyguard is a 1992 romantic-thriller film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. In the film, Costner stars as a former Secret Service Agent turned bodyguard who is hired to protect Houston's character, a music star, from an unknown stalker...
- Jason's Lyric
Jason's Lyric is a 1994 romantic drama film, written by Bobby Smith, Jr., and directed by Doug McHenry. The film marks the directorial debut of McHenry, who co-produced the film with George Jackson...
- 9½ Weeks
9½ Weeks is a 1986 erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. The film is based on the novella of the same title by Elizabeth McNeill....
- Crooklyn
Crooklyn is a 1994 semi-autobiographical film co-written and directed by Spike Lee. The film takes place in Brooklyn, New York during the 1970s. Its primary focus is a young girl, Troy , and her family...
- Free Willy
Free Willy is a 1993 family film directed by Simon Wincer, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment label. The film stars Jason James Richter as a young boy who befriends an Orca....
- Mannequin
Mannequin is a 1987 romantic comedy film, starring Kim Cattrall, Andrew McCarthy, Meshach Taylor, James Spader, G. W. Bailey, and Estelle Getty. It was written and directed by Michael Gottlieb, and the original music score was composed by Sylvester Levay. It was followed by a sequel, Mannequin Two:...
- The Associate
The Associate is the title of a 1996 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest, Eli Wallach, Timothy Daly, Bebe Neuwirth, Austin Pendleton and Lainie Kazan.-Plot:...
- Now and Again
Now and Again is an American television series which aired in the US from September 24, 1999 until May 5, 2000 on CBS. The story revolves around the United States government engineering the perfect human body for use in espionage, but not being able to yet perfect the brain...
- Innerspace
Innerspace is a 1987 science fiction comedy film directed by Joe Dante and produced by Michael Finnell. Steven Spielberg served as executive producer. The film was inspired by the classic 1966 sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage. It stars Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Robert Picardo, and Kevin...
Other collaborations
- LaToya London
La Toya Renee London is an American R&B and soul singer and actress who was the fourth-place finalist on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol...
("Every Part of Me," "Learn to Breathe," and "State of My Heart")
- Stacy Lattisaw
Stacy Lattisaw is an American R&B and dance music singer.-Career:When she was a teenager in the early 1980s, Lattisaw had a string of Top 40 R&B hits, with several songs — "Let Me Be Your Angel," "Jump to the Beat", "Love on a Two-Way Street" and "Miracles" — crossing over to the pop mainstream...
"Let Me Be Your Angel" album, "With You" album, Sneakin' Out album, "Sixteen" album and "Perfect Combination" album.
- Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer who was popular in the 1970s, and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.-Early years:...
("Your Heart's in Good Hands")
- Shanice Wilson ("I Hate to Be Lonely", "Love Is The Gift" [English theme song found only in Square Enix's video game The Bouncer
The Bouncer, known in Japan as , is a beat 'em up for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. It was co-developed by Squaresoft and Dream Factory...
])
- Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his Modern Sounds recordings, as well as a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of...
- Diana Ross
Diana Ross is an American singer and actress. During the 1960s, she helped shape the Motown Sound as lead singer of The Supremes, before leaving the group for a solo career on January 14, 1970...
("If You're Not Gonna Love Me Right", "I Will Survive")
- Wild Orchid
-History:Wild Orchid began while the girls were in their mid-teens starting off as a quartet; songwriter Bobby Sandstrom helped them write and record demos. They eventually signed a music publishing deal with Sony Publishing before signing with RCA Records in 1994. Their original name was NRG,...
- Tevin Campbell
Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter. Campbell scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s...
(Tell Me What You Want Me To Do)
- Angela Bofill
Angela Bofill is an American R&B contralto vocalist and songwriter.Bofill was born to a Cuban father and Puerto Rican mother. She performed with Ricardo Morrero & the Group and Dance Theater of Harlem chorus prior to her 1978 debut album, Angie...
- MyTown
Mytown, an acronym for Multicultural Youth Tour of What's Now, is a youth organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, engaging young people in learning about and teaching others about the local history of their urban neighborhood....
- Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English singer-songwriter who performs and writes rock, blues-rock, and jazz. He sings with a tenor voice and is a multi-instrumentalist who plays Hammond organ, guitar, bass, and other string instruments. In addition to his solo career, he was a member of...
- Phaze II
- Andy Vargas
Andy Vargas is an Australian football midfielder who currently plays for Green Gully. He is of Chilean descent and is the brother of Melbourne Victory defender Rodrigo Vargas....
- Debelah Morgan
Debelah Morgan is an American R&B singer and songwriter. Her stage name was simply Debelah at the beginning of her music career, but changed to her full name after her first music label dropped her. Morgan has enjoyed sporadic success, peaking with her song "Dance with Me."-Biography:Morgan signed...
- Jai
- Jermaine Stewart
Jermaine Stewart was an American pop singer, best known for his Billboard hits, "The Word Is Out" from his 1984 debut album of the same name, and "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" in 1986, from the album Frantic Romantic.-Early life and career:Born in Columbus, Ohio, to parents Ethel M...
("We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off")
- Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole is an American singer, songwriter and performer. She achieved success in her early career as an R&B star, but smoothly changed her repertoire toward a more pop and jazz oriented musical style in the early 1990s...
("Good to Be Back")
- Clarence Clemons
Clarence Clemons , affectionately known as The Big Man, is an American musician and actor. Since 1972 he has been a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing the saxophone. He has also released several solo albums and in 1985 had a hit single with "You're a Friend of Mine", a...
- Puff Johnson
Puff Johnson is an American singer-songwriter. She emerged on the music scene with the singles "Forever More", and "Over & Over" which appeared on the soundtrack of the film The First Wives Club, the single was a hit in Europe and Australia reaching the Top 20 in both continents...
- Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American actor, voice actor, film director, producer, comedian and singer. He is the second-highest grossing actor in motion picture history. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian...
("Put Your Mouth On Me")
- Carl Carlton
Carl Carlton is an American R&B, soul, and funk singer and songwriter best known for his hits "Everlasting Love" and "She's a Bad Mama Jama ".-Career:...
("The Bad CC")
- Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is a guitarist, composer and a record producer best known for being the guitarist for, and only constant member of, the progressive rock band King Crimson. His work, spanning five decades, encompasses a variety of musical styles...
("Exposure")
- Weather Report
Weather Report was an influential jazz fusion band of the 1970s and early 1980s combining jazz and latin jazz with art music, ethnic music, r&b, funk and rock elements ....
("Black Market")
- Michelle Gayle
Michelle Gayle is an English actress and singer. Gayle had success as a pop singer in the 1990s. She achieved seven Top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart, her two biggest hits to date being "Sweetness" and "Do You Know"...
("Sweetness", "Freedom", "Happy Just To Be With You", "Baby Don't Go", "All Night Long")
- Amii Stewart
Amy 'Amii' Paulette Stewart is an American contemporary R&B/disco/dance-pop singer, dancer and actress most famous for the disco tune "Knock on Wood". Stewart is the stepsister of actress-singer Miquel Brown and aunt to Brown's actress-singer daughter Sinitta.-Career:Amy Stewart was the fifth of...
- Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth is a British guitarist and composer. He has released ten studio albums and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but is best known for his work in jazz fusion....
("Velvet Darkness" LP, CD)
- Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He was one of the three noted guitarists — the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page — to have played with The Yardbirds...
, album "Wired"
- Sister Sledge
Sister Sledge is an American musical group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 1972 and consisting of four sisters: Kim Sledge , Debbie Sledge , Joni Sledge , and Kathy Sledge...
, album "All American Girls"
- Sheena Easton
Sheena Easton is a Scottish singer who achieved worldwide fame in the 1980s. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television program The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract, and got her a deal with EMI Records...
, ("So Far, So Good", from the Original Soundtrack of the movie "About Last Night")
- Tommy Bolin
Thomas Richard 'Tommy' Bolin was an American-born guitarist best known for his work with Zephyr , The James Gang , Deep Purple , and his solo work.- Musical career :Tommy Bolin began playing in bands around Sioux City as a youth before moving to Boulder, Colorado, in...
, ("Marching Powder")
- Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged for his skills as an electric bass player....
("Come On, Come Over")
External links