The Wiz (1978 soundtrack)
Encyclopedia
The Wiz: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album
for the 1978 film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Wiz
. Although the film was produced for Universal Pictures
by Motown Records
' film division
, the soundtrack album was issued on MCA Records
as a two-LP collection. Chiefly produced by Quincy Jones
, The Wiz soundtrack features cast performances by the stars of the film, including Diana Ross
, Michael Jackson
, Nipsey Russell
, Ted Ross
, Mabel King
, Theresa Merritt
, Thelma Carpenter
, and Lena Horne
.
The track selection is made up of both songs from the original 1975 Broadway musical
by Charlie Smalls
and Luther Vandross
, as well as new songs written for the film by Quincy Jones, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, and Anthony Jackson. This soundtrack marks Jones' first collaboration with Jackson; Jones would go on to produce Jackson's hit solo albums Off the Wall
, Thriller
, and Bad
.
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
for the 1978 film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Wiz
The Wiz (film)
The Wiz is a 1978 musical film produced by Motown Productions and Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on October 24, 1978. An urbanized retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an entirely African-American cast, The Wiz was adapted from the 1975 Broadway musical...
. Although the film was produced for Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
by Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
' film division
De Passe Entertainment
de Passe Entertainment is an American film and television production company run by entertainment executive Suzanne de Passe. The company was originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr., in 1968, as Motown Productions, the film and television arm of Gordy's Motown Records label.-History:Motown...
, the soundtrack album was issued on MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
as a two-LP collection. Chiefly produced by Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, The Wiz soundtrack features cast performances by the stars of the film, including Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
, Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, Nipsey Russell
Nipsey Russell
Julius "Nipsey" Russell was an American comedian, best known today for his appearances as a guest panelist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, especially Match Game, Password, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth and Pyramid...
, Ted Ross
Ted Ross
Ted Ross was an American actor who was probably best known for his role as the Lion in The Wiz, an all-African American reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz. He won a Tony Award for the original 1975 Broadway production, and went on to recreate the role in the 1978 film version which also starred...
, Mabel King
Mabel King
Mabel King was an American film, stage and television actress.-Early life and career:King was born Donnie Mabel Elizabeth Washington in Charleston, South Carolina, the daughter of Rosalie Washington. She was raised in Harlem where she eventually became a gospel and nightclub singer...
, Theresa Merritt
Theresa Merritt
Theresa Merritt Hines was an American stage, film and television actress and singer.-Career:Born in Emporia, Virginia, Merritt appeared in many theatrical productions but gained fame later in life when she starred in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Wiz Theresa Merritt Hines (September 24,...
, Thelma Carpenter
Thelma Carpenter
Thelma Carpenter was a jazz singer and actress, best known as "Miss One", the Good Witch of the North in the movie The Wiz.-Career:...
, and Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
.
The track selection is made up of both songs from the original 1975 Broadway musical
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
by Charlie Smalls
Charlie Smalls
Charlie Smalls was an African-American composer and songwriter, best known for writing the music for the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz....
and Luther Vandross
Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
, as well as new songs written for the film by Quincy Jones, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, and Anthony Jackson. This soundtrack marks Jones' first collaboration with Jackson; Jones would go on to produce Jackson's hit solo albums Off the Wall
Off the Wall (album)
Off the Wall is the fifth studio album by the American recording artist Michael Jackson, released August 10, 1979 on Epic Records, after Jackson's critically well received film performance in The Wiz. While working on that project, Jackson and Quincy Jones had become friends, and Jones agreed to...
, Thriller
Thriller (album)
Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 30, 1982, by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall...
, and Bad
Bad (album)
Bad is the seventh studio album by American songwriter and recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic/CBS Records, nearly five years after Jackson's previous studio album, Thriller, which went on to become the world's best-selling album...
.
Record one, side one
- "Main Title (Overture, Part One)" (instrumental)
- "Overture (Part Two)" (instrumental)
- "The Feeling That We Have" - Theresa MerrittTheresa MerrittTheresa Merritt Hines was an American stage, film and television actress and singer.-Career:Born in Emporia, Virginia, Merritt appeared in many theatrical productions but gained fame later in life when she starred in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Wiz Theresa Merritt Hines (September 24,...
and Chorus - "Can I Go On?" (Quincy JonesQuincy JonesQuincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie SimpsonAshford & SimpsonNickolas Ashford , and Valerie Simpson , were a husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists....
) - Diana RossDiana RossDiana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway... - "Glinda's Theme" (instrumental)
- "He's the Wizard" - Thelma CarpenterThelma CarpenterThelma Carpenter was a jazz singer and actress, best known as "Miss One", the Good Witch of the North in the movie The Wiz.-Career:...
and Chorus - "Soon as I Get Home"/"Home" - Diana Ross
Record one, side two
- "You Can't WinYou Can't Win (song)"You Can't Win" is an R&B, pop and soul song performed by American recording artist Michael Jackson in the 1978 musical film The Wiz. The song was written by composer Charlie Smalls specifically for Jackson's role as Scarecrow in the movie, a retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that featured an...
" - Michael JacksonMichael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records... - "Ease on Down the RoadEase on Down the Road"Ease on Down the Road" is a song from the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz, performed in the original production by Stephanie Mills and Hinton Battle...
#1" - Diana Ross and Michael Jackson - "What Would I Do If I Could Feel?" - Nipsey RussellNipsey RussellJulius "Nipsey" Russell was an American comedian, best known today for his appearances as a guest panelist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, especially Match Game, Password, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth and Pyramid...
- "Slide Some Oil to Me" - Nipsey Russell
- "Ease on Down the Road #2" - Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and Nipsey Russell
- "I'm a Mean Ole Lion" - Ted RossTed RossTed Ross was an American actor who was probably best known for his role as the Lion in The Wiz, an all-African American reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz. He won a Tony Award for the original 1975 Broadway production, and went on to recreate the role in the 1978 film version which also starred...
- "Ease on Down the Road #3" - Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross
- "Poppy Girls" (Anthony Jackson) (instrumental)
Record two, side one
- "Be a Lion" - Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross
- "End of the Yellow Brick Road" (instrumental)
- "Emerald City Sequence" (music: Jones, lyrics: Smalls) - Chorus
- "So You Wanted to See the Wizard" - Richard PryorRichard PryorRichard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
(spoken dialogue) - "Is This What Feeling Gets? (Dorothy's Theme)" (music: Jones, lyrics: Ashford & Simpson) - Diana Ross
Record two, side two
- "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News" - Mabel KingMabel KingMabel King was an American film, stage and television actress.-Early life and career:King was born Donnie Mabel Elizabeth Washington in Charleston, South Carolina, the daughter of Rosalie Washington. She was raised in Harlem where she eventually became a gospel and nightclub singer...
and Chorus - "A Brand New Day" (Luther VandrossLuther VandrossLuther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
) - Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, and Chorus - "Believe in Yourself (Dorothy)" - Diana Ross
- "The Good Witch Glinda" (instrumental)
- "Believe in Yourself (Reprise)" - Lena HorneLena HorneLena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
- "HomeHome (The Wiz song)"Home" is a song from the 1975 Broadway musical, The Wiz. The song was performed by Stephanie Mills in the stage production and by Diana Ross in the 1978 film adaptation and released on the soundtrack album in 1978....
" - Diana Ross- All songs written by Charlie SmallsCharlie SmallsCharlie Smalls was an African-American composer and songwriter, best known for writing the music for the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz....
, unless otherwise noted.
- All songs written by Charlie Smalls
Album
| Chart (1978/1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
40 |
| U.S. Billboard Black Albums Chart Billboard charts The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine... |
33 |
Singles
| Title | Chart (1978/1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| "Ease on Down the Road" | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
41 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
17 | |
| "You Can't Win" | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 81 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles | 42 |