Will to Power (band)
Encyclopedia
Will to Power is the name of an American dance-pop
group that originated in southern Florida
in the mid-1980s. The group recorded a number of hit singles on the Billboard
dance
and pop charts
in the late 1980s and early 1990s, most notably "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley
", a medley of 1970s hits by Peter Frampton
and Lynyrd Skynyrd
that reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100
chart in December 1988. The group has also seen success on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
chart and continues to create music into the 21st century.
. His mother, Gloria Mann
, was a pop singer who had two Top 40 pop hits in the mid-1950s on the Sound Records label, "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)
" and "Teen Age Prayer". After attending school in Florida, Rosenberg became a DJ at various local events, and by 1985 he was working at a Miami CHR
radio station, WHQT
(Hot 105). He remix
ed and edited songs as a radio-mix DJ for the station, and these mixes became popular in the Miami area. Rosenberg created a rap record in 1985 that was titled "Miami Vice", based on the popular TV show
and its theme song
, but MCA Records
claimed that Rosenberg had infringed on their copyright. He also remixed and edited the song "Beat Box" for 2 Live Crew
's 1986 debut album, The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are
.
During 1986 and 1987, Rosenberg worked with various other musicians to create original music. He chose the name Will to Power for the group as an homage to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
's theory of an individual's fundamental will to power
.
where he met singer-songwriter Suzi Carr, who had co-written two songs on Miami Sound Machine's 1985 breakthrough album, Primitive Love
. After Rosenberg mentioned that he was looking for a vocalist, he and Carr provided vocals for a song he had written, "Dreamin'" (which would later appear on Will to Power's debut album), with Rosenberg on lead vocals and Carr on backing vocals. Rosenberg wrote "Dreamin'" as a tribute to his sister, Robin, after she had died. Radio program director Bill Tanner was the first PD to play "Dreamin" on Power 96 in Miami, Florida. Released in Miami on the Thrust Records label, "Dreamin'" became a regional hit and got the attention of Epic Records
, who picked up the song for distribution to radio stations and dance clubs around the country. The song peaked at #50 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart and at #15 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
chart in August 1987. It also reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales
chart in September of that year. Epic Records asked Rosenberg if he had enough material for an album. In June 1988, Will to Power released a follow-up single, "Say It's Gonna Rain
", which featured Carr on lead vocals. This song reached #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July 1988 and spent two weeks atop the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in August and September of that year.
After Rosenberg spent much of 1987 and early 1988 working on new material with a variety of different musicians, including vocalists Carr, Maria Mendez, Donna Allen
and Sandeé
, keyboardists Lawrence Dermer
and David Rosenthal
and a DJ/saxophone player, Johnny James, known as "Dr. J", the group's self-titled debut album
was released on Epic Records in March 1988. Along with the aforementioned songs "Dreamin'" and "Say It's Gonna Rain", the album contained a medley of two popular rock
songs from the 1970s, "Baby, I Love Your Way
" (a 1976 hit record for Peter Frampton
) and "Free Bird
" (a well-known track by the Southern rock
band Lynyrd Skynyrd
from 1974). This medley, titled "Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley (Free Baby)
", which also featured Carr on lead vocals, was the last song from the album to be created. Although Epic was reluctant to release this hybrid song as a single, Rosenberg had distributed copies of the song to various radio stations in the Miami vicinity, including WPOW (Power 96). According to Rosenberg, "they played it, and a few other stations caught onto it, so Epic put it out." This song became the group's biggest hit, spending a week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching #2 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart
in December 1988. It also became the group's highest-charting hit in the UK
, reaching #6 on the UK Singles Chart
. That month, the album reached its peak position of #68 on the Billboard 200
albums chart. A fourth single from the album, "Fading Away
", spent two weeks atop the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in early 1989.
on keyboards. The album appeared on the Billboard 200 albums chart in February 1991, peaking at #178.
The first single to be released from the album was "I'm Not in Love
", a cover version
of a song by the British art rock
band 10cc
that was a #1 UK and #2 US pop hit in 1975. Will to Power's version made the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #7 in January 1991 in addition to reaching #4 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart. The song reached #29 in the UK pop chart. The follow-up single was a cover of the disco hit "Boogie Nights
" by the band Heatwave
, however this version failed to chart. Other songs on the album include "Fly Bird" and "Clock on the Wall".
(the parent company of Epic Records) released a Will to Power compilation album, Love Power, on their Sony Special Products label. It consists of songs that had appeared on the group's first two albums, including their two US pop top ten songs, "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley" and "I'm Not in Love".
The group released a new album, Spirit Warrior, in 2004 on Straight Blast Records, which was followed by an EP
in 2006 titled Spirit Warrior: The Remixes. For this album, Rosenberg collaborated with vocalists such as Gioia Bruno
(member of the freestyle music
group Exposé
), Donna Allen and Wendy Pederson, and remixers such as Giuseppe D and the Wonder Twins.
gave Journey Home a D+ rating in a February 1991 review by Bill Wyman, stating that "the material is predominantly colorless pop songs". However, music journalist Chuck Eddy
mentions tracks from Journey Home in his 1997 book, The Accidental Evolution of Rock 'n' Roll: A Misguided Tour Through Popular Music. In the section titled "Automotive Rock", Eddy mentions that the song "Journey Home" is the title track of what may have been his favorite album of the 1990s, that it is seemingly based on the 1981 song "Cruising with the Deuce" by Quarterflash
and that Rosenberg "says he's got to keep his motor running, but not only can you feel the machine's momentum (in the rhythm), you can also feel stormclouds settling in (in the voices)."
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
group that originated in southern Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in the mid-1980s. The group recorded a number of hit singles on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
dance
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
and pop charts
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
in the late 1980s and early 1990s, most notably "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley
Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley
"Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley " is the title of a 1988 single by the American dance-pop band Will To Power. The song combines elements of two previously recorded rock songs: "Baby, I Love Your Way", a #12 Billboard Hot 100 hit from 1976 by the British-born singer Peter Frampton; and...
", a medley of 1970s hits by Peter Frampton
Peter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
and Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
that reached the top of the 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...
chart in December 1988. The group has also seen success on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
chart and continues to create music into the 21st century.
The early years
Bob Rosenberg was born on January 18, 1959 in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. His mother, Gloria Mann
Gloria Mann
Gloria Mann was an American pop singer born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mann scored two hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1955. The first was a version of "Earth Angel", which reached #18. Later that year, "Teen Age Prayer" peaked at #19; this featured Sid Bass leading the backing orchestra...
, was a pop singer who had two Top 40 pop hits in the mid-1950s on the Sound Records label, "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)
Earth Angel
"Earth Angel " is an American doo-wop song, originally released by The Penguins in 1954 on the Dootone label , as the B-side to "Hey Señorita." The song became a major hit for The Crew-Cuts in 1955, reaching the Billboard charts on January 29, 1955. It peaked at #3 on the Disk Jockey chart, #8 on...
" and "Teen Age Prayer". After attending school in Florida, Rosenberg became a DJ at various local events, and by 1985 he was working at a Miami CHR
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
radio station, WHQT
WHQT
WHQT, Hot 105FM, is an Urban Adult Contemporary-formatted radio station owned by Cox Media Group that serves the South Florida region. WHQT is licensed to Coral Gables, but its studios are located in Hollywood along with its sister stations WEDR, WFLC, and WFEZ...
(Hot 105). He remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
ed and edited songs as a radio-mix DJ for the station, and these mixes became popular in the Miami area. Rosenberg created a rap record in 1985 that was titled "Miami Vice", based on the popular TV show
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
and its theme song
Miami Vice Theme
The musical piece Miami Vice Theme was created and performed by Jan Hammer as the theme to the television series Miami Vice. It was first presented as part of the television broadcast of the show in September 1984 and released as a single in 1985, peaking at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot...
, but 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...
claimed that Rosenberg had infringed on their copyright. He also remixed and edited the song "Beat Box" for 2 Live Crew
2 Live Crew
2 Live Crew was a hip hop group from Miami, Florida. They caused considerable controversy with the sexual themes in their work, particularly on their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.- Early career :...
's 1986 debut album, The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are
The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are
The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are is the first album by hip-hop group the 2 Live Crew. It was released in 1986 on Luke Records to a great deal of controversy and promptly was certified gold by the RIAA...
.
During 1986 and 1987, Rosenberg worked with various other musicians to create original music. He chose the name Will to Power for the group as an homage to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
's theory of an individual's fundamental will to power
Will to power
The will to power is widely seen as a prominent concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. The will to power describes what Nietzsche may have believed to be the main driving force in man; achievement, ambition, the striving to reach the highest possible position in life; these are all...
.
1986 to 1988: Will to Power
Rosenberg attended a Winter Music Seminar in Ft. LauderdaleFort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
where he met singer-songwriter Suzi Carr, who had co-written two songs on Miami Sound Machine's 1985 breakthrough album, Primitive Love
Primitive Love
Primitive Love is the 9th studio album released by the Miami Sound Machine, and their second English language studio album. It was released in 1985 .-Album history:...
. After Rosenberg mentioned that he was looking for a vocalist, he and Carr provided vocals for a song he had written, "Dreamin'" (which would later appear on Will to Power's debut album), with Rosenberg on lead vocals and Carr on backing vocals. Rosenberg wrote "Dreamin'" as a tribute to his sister, Robin, after she had died. Radio program director Bill Tanner was the first PD to play "Dreamin" on Power 96 in Miami, Florida. Released in Miami on the Thrust Records label, "Dreamin'" became a regional hit and got the attention of Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
, who picked up the song for distribution to radio stations and dance clubs around the country. The song peaked at #50 on the 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...
chart and at #15 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
chart in August 1987. It also reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales
Hot Dance Singles Sales
Hot Dance Singles Sales is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, established in 1985. It measures the sale of commercially released singles that deal with dance music and remixes...
chart in September of that year. Epic Records asked Rosenberg if he had enough material for an album. In June 1988, Will to Power released a follow-up single, "Say It's Gonna Rain
Say It's Gonna Rain
"Say It's Gonna Rain" is the title of a 1988 song by the American dance-pop group known as Will to Power. The original version of the song appeared on their self-titled debut album, released by Epic Records. The lead vocals on the track were sung by singer-songwriter Suzi Carr...
", which featured Carr on lead vocals. This song reached #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July 1988 and spent two weeks atop the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in August and September of that year.
After Rosenberg spent much of 1987 and early 1988 working on new material with a variety of different musicians, including vocalists Carr, Maria Mendez, Donna Allen
Donna Allen
Donna Allen is an American dance pop singer, born in Key West, Florida, and raised in Tampa. At one point a cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, she got her start performing in the bands Hi-Octane and Trama before launching a solo career. She also sang backup on tour for Gloria Estefan for...
and Sandeé
Sandeé
Sandra Tola Harvey , professionally known as Sandée, was an American freestyle music vocalist and an original member of the trio Exposé from 1984 to 1986, along with Alejandra "Alé" Lorenzo and Laurie Miller.As a solo artist, Sandée released the singles "You're the One" and "Notice Me" Sandra Tola...
, keyboardists Lawrence Dermer
Lawrence Dermer
Lawrence Dermer is a Grammy nominated and BMI award winning record producer and multi-platinum songwriter.Dermer has worked with various pop stars including Gloria Estefan and produced live shows for two Super Bowls.-External links:* Official Website...
and David Rosenthal
David Rosenthal (musician)
David Rosenthal is an American keyboardist, music producer, and songwriter mostly known for working with the English hard rock band Rainbow and Billy Joel...
and a DJ/saxophone player, Johnny James, known as "Dr. J", the group's self-titled debut album
Will to Power (album)
-Additional Musicians:*Donna Allen, Harry King, Ale Lorenzo, Elin Michaels, Lori Miller, April Newman, Sandee, Betty Wright: Vocals*Lawrence Dermer, Winston Johnson, Lester Mendez, David Rosenthal, Fro Sosa: Keyboards*Gary King: Guitars*David Hobbs: Turntables...
was released on Epic Records in March 1988. Along with the aforementioned songs "Dreamin'" and "Say It's Gonna Rain", the album contained a medley of two popular rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
songs from the 1970s, "Baby, I Love Your Way
Baby, I Love Your Way
"Baby, I Love Your Way" is a song written and performed by singer Peter Frampton that was first featured on Frampton's 1975 album, Frampton...
" (a 1976 hit record for Peter Frampton
Peter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
) and "Free Bird
Free Bird
"Free Bird" is a song by the American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd...
" (a well-known track by the Southern rock
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music, and genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals...
band Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
from 1974). This medley, titled "Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley (Free Baby)
Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley
"Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley " is the title of a 1988 single by the American dance-pop band Will To Power. The song combines elements of two previously recorded rock songs: "Baby, I Love Your Way", a #12 Billboard Hot 100 hit from 1976 by the British-born singer Peter Frampton; and...
", which also featured Carr on lead vocals, was the last song from the album to be created. Although Epic was reluctant to release this hybrid song as a single, Rosenberg had distributed copies of the song to various radio stations in the Miami vicinity, including WPOW (Power 96). According to Rosenberg, "they played it, and a few other stations caught onto it, so Epic put it out." This song became the group's biggest hit, spending a week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching #2 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
in December 1988. It also became the group's highest-charting hit in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, reaching #6 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. That month, the album reached its peak position of #68 on the 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...
albums chart. A fourth single from the album, "Fading Away
Fading Away
"Fading Away" is a song by the Florida-based dance-pop group Will to Power. It appears on their 1988 self-titled debut album and was released as a single in early 1989....
", spent two weeks atop the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in early 1989.
1989 to 1991: Journey Home
After the success of the debut album, Will to Power's follow-up album, Journey Home, was released in late 1990. Rosenberg continued with the group, producing the album, recording vocals and writing most of the songs. The primary female vocalist was then Elin Michaels, a dance-pop singer who had released some 12" singles on the Knockout Records label in the mid-1980s. Additional musicians who worked on the album include Donna Allen, Dee Dee Wilde, Wendy Pederson and Harry King on additional vocals, Ed Calle and Tony Concepción on horns, Orlando Hernandez on drums and Lester MendezLester Mendez
Lester Mendez is an American record producer and songwriter. His production/writing credits include a multitude of successful hits including Shakira's "Underneath Your Clothes" and "La Tortura", Jessica Simpson's "A Public Affair", and Nelly Furtado's "Te Busqué".Mendez worked with Carlos Santana...
on keyboards. The album appeared on the Billboard 200 albums chart in February 1991, peaking at #178.
The first single to be released from the album was "I'm Not in Love
I'm Not in Love
"I'm Not in Love" is a song written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman of the English group 10cc, from the album The Original Soundtrack. The lyric reveals a narrator in denial about the title's ostensible theme.-The 10cc version:...
", a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of a song by the British art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
band 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
that was a #1 UK and #2 US pop hit in 1975. Will to Power's version made the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #7 in January 1991 in addition to reaching #4 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart. The song reached #29 in the UK pop chart. The follow-up single was a cover of the disco hit "Boogie Nights
Boogie Nights (song)
"Boogie Nights" is a 1976 single by the British-based funk-disco group Heatwave. It was the group's debut single and was written by Rod Temperton. It was included on Heatwave's debut album, Too Hot to Handle...
" by the band Heatwave
Heatwave (band)
Heatwave was an international funk/disco musical band featuring Americans Johnnie Wilder, Jr. and Keith Wilder of Dayton, Ohio, Englishman Rod Temperton , Swiss Mario Mantese , Czechoslovak Ernest "Bilbo" Berger , Jamaican Eric Johns and Briton Roy Carter .They were known for their successful...
, however this version failed to chart. Other songs on the album include "Fly Bird" and "Clock on the Wall".
1992 to present
In 1996, Sony Music EntertainmentSony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
(the parent company of Epic Records) released a Will to Power compilation album, Love Power, on their Sony Special Products label. It consists of songs that had appeared on the group's first two albums, including their two US pop top ten songs, "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley" and "I'm Not in Love".
The group released a new album, Spirit Warrior, in 2004 on Straight Blast Records, which was followed by an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
in 2006 titled Spirit Warrior: The Remixes. For this album, Rosenberg collaborated with vocalists such as Gioia Bruno
Gioia Bruno
Gioia Bruno is an Italian-born American popular music singer, most noted as a member of the vocal group Exposé.-Early life and career:...
(member of the freestyle music
Freestyle music
Freestyle or Latin freestyle, sometimes referred to as Latin hip hop, is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1980s. Mostly popular during the mid 80s to the early 90s...
group Exposé
Exposé (band)
Exposé is an American vocal group. Primarily consisting of lead vocalists Ann Curless, Jeanette Jurado, and Gioia Bruno, the group achieved much of their success in the late 1980s and early 1990s, becoming the first group to have four top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart from their debut...
), Donna Allen and Wendy Pederson, and remixers such as Giuseppe D and the Wonder Twins.
Critical reception
Allmusic reviews of the group's first two albums are generally positive, with Will to Power receiving four stars out of a possible five and Journey Home receiving three stars. Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave Journey Home a D+ rating in a February 1991 review by Bill Wyman, stating that "the material is predominantly colorless pop songs". However, music journalist Chuck Eddy
Chuck Eddy
Chuck Eddy is an American music journalist.He was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with The Village Voice and Creem, where he published one of the first national interviews with the Beastie Boys in the mid-1980s, Eddy then wrote for Rolling Stone, Spin,...
mentions tracks from Journey Home in his 1997 book, The Accidental Evolution of Rock 'n' Roll: A Misguided Tour Through Popular Music. In the section titled "Automotive Rock", Eddy mentions that the song "Journey Home" is the title track of what may have been his favorite album of the 1990s, that it is seemingly based on the 1981 song "Cruising with the Deuce" by Quarterflash
Quarterflash
Quarterflash was an American rock group formed in 1980 in Portland, Oregon. The band was made up of Rindy Ross , her husband Marv Ross , Jack Charles , Rick DiGiallonardo , Rich Gooch , and Brian David Willis...
and that Rosenberg "says he's got to keep his motor running, but not only can you feel the machine's momentum (in the rhythm), you can also feel stormclouds settling in (in the voices)."
Discography
- Will to PowerWill to Power (album)-Additional Musicians:*Donna Allen, Harry King, Ale Lorenzo, Elin Michaels, Lori Miller, April Newman, Sandee, Betty Wright: Vocals*Lawrence Dermer, Winston Johnson, Lester Mendez, David Rosenthal, Fro Sosa: Keyboards*Gary King: Guitars*David Hobbs: Turntables...
(1988) - Journey Home (1990)
- Spirit Warrior (2005)
See also
- List of artists who reached number one in the United States
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart
External links
- [ Will to Power] at Allmusic
- http://www.billboard.com/#/search/%22will%20to%20power%22Artist page at BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
website]