Lionel Richie

468. Barbra Streisand – Woman in Love (1980)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

As the 80s dawned, The Bee Gees knew their second peak couldn’t last forever. But moving into writing and producing for others proved very fruitful. Superstar actress and singer Barbra Streisand initially asked Barry Gibb to write half the album Guilty. He went on to produce the whole LP and Woman in Love became her biggest UK hit.

Before

Barbara Joan Streisand was born on 24 April 1942 in Brooklyn, New York City. Her father died soon after her first birthday, and the Streisands struggled financially, with her mother working as a bookkeeper. She was also a semi-professional singer, but she was initially reluctant when her daughter showed an interest in performing. At the age of nine, Streisand had already failed an audition for MGM. But her mother came round to the idea and she helped her 13-year-old daughter record a demo.

However, Streisand’s main ambition was to be an actress. At 16 she left school and moved out, taking on a number of menial jobs to make ends meet while striving for acting jobs. She became an usher in 1960 and auditioned for The Sound of Music. Although she failed, the director was impressed and urged her to include singing on her resumé. She entered a talent contest at gay nightclub Lion in Greenwich Village and stunned the audience into silence. Returning after winning for several weeks, she decided to change her first name to ‘Barbra’. Determined to make it her way, she refused to contemplate suggestions she have a nose job to improve her chances of mainstream appeal. Her first professional engagement came in September 1960 as support for the comedian Phyllis Diller.

Streisand spent the next few years honing her act and developing her between-song patter. She made her TV debut on The Tonight Show in 1961 and her Broadway debut the following year in the musical comedy I Can Get It for you Wholesale. At the age of 21 she signed with Columbia Records, gaining full creative control, in exchange for less money. A respectable position to take, and just as well, because they wanted her debut LP to be called Sweet and Saucy Streisand. It was eventually released as The Barbra Streisand Album in 1963.

In 1964 Streisand returned to Broadway for Funny Girl, which became an overnight success. People became her first US charting single, peaking at five, and she even made the cover of Time. Streisand’s UK chart debut came in 1965 with Second Hand Rose, which climbed to 14. In 1968 she won her first Academy Award, for Best Actress, after starring in the cinema version of Funny Girl.

The British Invasion dented Streisand’s mainstream musical appeal, like many stars of her ilk. But during the 70s her fortunes improved, with a return to the singles chart in 1970 with Stoney End – six in the US, 27 in the UK. One of her signature tunes, the haunting The Way We Were from the film of the same name, became her first Billboard number 1 in 1973, yet strangely it only climbed to 31 in the UK. Her role alongside Kris Kristofferson in the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born was huge, and Evergreen (Love Theme from ‘A Star Is Born’) was her second US chart-topper, soaring to three over here. She also won an Oscar for Best Song for Evergreen.

Her version of Neil Diamond’s You Don’t Bring Me Flowers was so popular, an unofficial duet was achieved by splicing Streisand and Diamond’s recordings. When an official duet was released in December 1978, Streisand achieved her third Billboard number 1. A year later, another duet saw her cross over successfully into disco. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) teamed Streisand with Donna Summer and was co-produced by the genius Giorgio Moroder. Back at the peak of Billboard for the fourth time, it peaked at three in the UK. Streisand was named the most successful US female singer of the 70s.

Between February 1979 and March 1980, Streisand worked on her 22nd album, Guilty. She was so impressed with Gibb’s production and songwriting, he contributed to every song, with Robin co-writing five songs, and Maurice joining them for the title track. Production was credited to Gibb-Galuten-Richardson, which saw Barry team up with producer Albhy Galuten and sound engineer Karl Richardson, who produced Bee Gees number 1s Night Fever and Tragedy. Barry and Robin co-wrote lead single, Woman in Love, and Barry was credited with acoustic guitar and arrangement.

Review

You can always tell when a song has been written by the Gibb brothers, even if they don’t record it. Their marks are all over it – all you have to do is imagine the vocals made a lot higher. This rule works here. Unfortunately, that’s about the most interesting thing I can say about Woman in Love. It’s a very pedestrian love song masked in glossy production. I don’t understand why it was so popular, other than that perhaps it was due to Streisand’s stock being so high on the back of her role in A Star Is Born (the video is simply a compilation of scenes from the film) and her duet with Summer. There’s no amazing vocal prowess on display, the lyrics are unremarkable and the tune is lacklustre. Certainly one of the lesser number 1s of 1980.

After

Nonetheless, Woman in Love was a smash hit around the world, topping the charts in the US, Australia, Spain – pretty much everywhere, in fact. The parent album Guilty was also huge, despite no further real success in the UK singles chart (the title track only made it to 34). It would be four years before her next studio LP, Emotion. In 1985, despite objections from Columbia, Streisand returned to her roots with The Broadway Album. Three years later, Streisand was in the UK top 20 for the first time since Woman in Love, with the title track to Till I Loved You – a duet with Miami Vice star Don Johnson, which peaked at 16.

The 90s started very well for Streisand. She directed, co-produced and starred in the romantic drama The Prince of Tides (1991). Places That Belong to You, from the soundtrack, saw her back in the singles chart at 17. In 1993 she announced her return to live public concerts for the first time in 27 years. At the time, she was the highest-paid concert performer ever and won five Emmy Awards. She left the limelight again for a few years, but made a triumphant return in 1996, producing, directing and starring in another romantic comedy – The Mirror Has Two Faces. From the soundtrack came the number 10 hit duet I Finally Found Someone, with Bryan Adams. Then, a year later, a duet with Celine Dion – Tell Him, soared to number three. It is to date her last top 10 single.

The new millennium began with sad news for Streisand’s fans, as she announced she was to retire from public performances. But she did return to the movie world, starring in 2004 comedy Meet the Fockers. Album releases continued, including Guilty Too, a second collaboration with Gibb, in 2005. A year later, aged 64, she announced she was to tour once more, and became one of the highest-grossing performers in the world yet again. Amazingly it took until 2009 for Streisand to make her performance debut on British TV, when she appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

In 2014, Streisand released Partners, an album featuring duets with Lionel Richie, Billy Joel and, from beyond the grave, Elvis Presley. Her last album to date was Walls in 2018, the title of which was a reference to the singer’s condemnation of President Donald Trump’s policies.

The Outro

Streisand has been a hugely successful singer, actress, director, producer over six decades. However, when it comes to pop music, there’s not a lot to recommend, other than No More Tears (Enough Is Enough). And that’s most likely down to Summer and Moroder.

The Info

Written by

Barry Gibb & Robin Gibb

Producers

Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten & Karl Richardson

Weeks at number 1

3 (25 October-14 November)

Trivia

Births

26 October: Scottish actor Khalid Abdalla
28 October: Footballer Alan Smith
12 November: Rugby union player Charlie Hodgson

Deaths

26 October: Northern Irish playwright Sam Cree
27 October: T Rex singer-songwriter Steve Peregrin Took
29 October: Actress Ouida MacDermott
30 October: Actor Guy Bellis
3 November: Actor Dennis Burgess/Horticulturalist David Lowe
4 November: Radio broadcaster Paul Kaye/Boxer Johnny Owen
6 November: Literary scholar Nevill Coghill
7 November: Theatre director Norman Marshall
8 November: Scottish painter Gordon Robert Archibald/Astrophysicist Valerie Myerscough/Film producer Julian Wintle
9 November: Social researcher Pearl Jephcott
10 November: Journalist Patrick Campbell, 3rd Baron Glenavy/Painter James Priddey
11 November: Suffragette Connie Lewcock
12 November: John Chetwynd-Talbot, 21st Earl of Shrewsbury
14 November: Dance critic Arnold Haskell

Meanwhile…

28 October: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declares her government will not back down to seven jailed IRA terrorists on hunger strike in the Maze Prison, who are hoping to gain prisoner of war status.

5 November: The Yorkshire Ripper is suspected responsible when 16-year-old Huddersfield mother Theresa Sykes is wounded in a hammer attack.

10 November: Michael Foot, the left-wing Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, is elected as their new Leader.

13 November: Security guard George Smith is shot dead when the van he guards is intercepted by armed robbers in Willenhall, West Midlands.

425. Commodores – Three Times a Lady (1978)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

Alabama funk outfit Commodores developed a softer soul sound thanks largely to chief songwriter Lionel Richie, who eventually left to become one of the biggest pop stars of the 80s. This was their most famous hit and sole chart-topper.

Before

The seven-piece formed from the ashes of two former student groups at Tuskegee Institute in 1968. From the Mystics came vocalist, keyboardist and saxophonist Richie, lead guitarist James McClary and William ‘WAK’ King on trumpet, rhythm guitar, keyboards and vocals. They were joined by three members of the Jays – Andre Callahan on vocals, drums and keyboards, Michael Gilbert on bass and trumpet and Milan Williams on keyboards and rhythm guitar. Another keyboardist, Eugene Ward, also joined them.

Legend has it they chose their new band name when King opened a dictionary and picked a random word. He pointed out later that they were lucky they didn’t become known as The Commodes.

The Commodores won a talent contest at their university and began performing at frat parties. Two years later the line-up changed when Callahan, Gilbert and Ward left. Ronald LaPread took up bass duties and James Ingram (not the famous singer with that name) became lead vocalist and drummer. At this point they were still performing covers but original material was creeping into setlists.

After performing in parking lots, fortune smiled on the Commodores when they landed a support slot on a tour with none other than The Jackson 5. This led to Motown Records signing them up.

Their recorded output got off to a blistering start with that fine instrumental funk classic Machine Gun, the title track of their 1974 LP, which peaked at 20 in the UK. Nothing like their latter career, this features Williams hammering away on the clavinet to great effect. Ingram had left two years previous to head to Vietnam, with his role replaced by Walter Orange, who also took up songwriting duties along with Richie.

Over the next few years they released several hard funk albums to mixed success. Their singles didn’t dent the UK charts, however. Things began to pick up when third album Movin’ On (1976) spawned Sweet Love, a softer track that hit five in the US and 32 in the UK. Success on these shores picked up in 1977 with their eponymous fifth album (renamed Zoom here), which contained the classic break-up anthem Easy. It reached four in the US and nine in the UK. Orange sang the funky follow-up Brick House (32 in Blighty).

A live album was released to bridge the gap while the band worked on their next album. The first song to be released from this was Three Times a Lady.

Richie was at a party to celebrate his parents’ 37th wedding anniversary. When his father toasted his mother and said ‘She’s a great lady, she’s a great mother, and she’s a great friend’, his son was inspired. Putting pen to paper, he came up with a gentle waltz that he dedicated to his wife Brenda, who he saw as once, twice, three times a lady.

However, he considered it too soft for his band. When they presented producer James Carmichael with ideas for the LP Natural High, Richie played Three Times a Lady on the piano but told everyone present it wasn’t for them. He had Frank Sinatra in mind. Carmichael thought it was too good to let go and insisted they record it.

https://youtu.be/VzIs3nKF98Y

Review

As we all know, Three Times a Lady became a massive hit, one of Richie’s most loved songs and a staple at wedding receptions. It’s not among my favourites though – it doesn’t hold a candle to Machine Gun, Easy or some of Richie’s solo love ballads. It’s just too gentle for me and doesn’t go anywhere to keep me interested. Richie sings it beautifully though. Some of the lyrics (and there’s not many) leave me slightly puzzled as the first verse is in past tense and suggests a relationship that’s ended for some reason:

‘Thanks for the times that you’ve given me,
The memories are all in my mind,
And now that we’ve come to the end of our rainbow,
There’s something I must say out loud’

Sounds like a goodbye doesn’t it? Not exactly what you want to sing to your new husband/wife for your first dance on your wedding night really but it’s far from the only misunderstood wedding song. All in all, it’s not bad, but I don’t consider it the classic so many others do.

After

Three Times a Lady topped the charts all over the world and moved Commodores up into a whole new level of fame. It was nominated for two Grammys and won several other awards. A similar and superior tune, Sail On from the album Midnight Magic, reached eight in the UK in 1979 and Still followed hot on its heels, peaking at four here but earning them their second US chart-topper.

Their next album Heroes in 1980 saw a drop in their sales and the single Wonderland only reached 40 here. It was their last top 40 hit for five years. Despite this they were doing well again in the US before long but Richie threw a spanner in the works in 1982 by announcing he was going it alone. Skyler Jett replaced him as lead singer. Then in 1983 McClary left to also go solo and he was replaced by guitarist-vocalist Sheldon Reynolds. Jett was gone by 1984 and his role was taken by former Heatwave frontman James Dean ‘JD’ Nicholas.

Just as the Commodores were coming to the end of the road with Motown, the title track of their 1985 album Nightshift saw them unexpectedly return to the charts. This touching tribute to soul stars Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, who had both died the year previous, soared to three here and in the US.

The Outro

This return to fame proved short-lived, however. LaPread departed in 1986 and Reynolds a year later. His role was taken by David Battelene. While Richie continued to release hits on his own, Commodores were forgotten. A few more albums were released but made no mark. The last album to date was New Tricks in 1993 but Orange, Nicholas and King still tour the world as Commodores.

The Info

Written by

Lionel Richie

Producers

James Carmichael & Commodores

Weeks at number 1

5 (19 August-22 September)

Trivia

Births

19 August: Actor Callum Blue
27 August: Actress Suranne Jones

Deaths

28 August: Actor Robert Shaw
4 September: Suffragette Leonora Cohen
7 September: The Who drummer Keith Moon
9 September: Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid
15 September: Composer Edmund Crispin

Meanwhile…

20 August: Gunmen opened fire on an Israeli El Al airline bus in London.

25 August: With the aid of homemade water shoes, US Army Sergeant Walter Robinson ‘walked’ across the English Channel in 11 hours 30 minutes.

7 September: The Who’s wild drummer Keith Moon’s self-destructive ways resulted in his death. His body was found in in a flat owned by Harry Nilsson, who didn’t want to let Moon stay there as he believed it was cursed after Mama Cass died there. Moon died from a drug overdose aged 32.
Also that day, Prime Minister James Callaghan announced he would not call a general election for the autumn. Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher and Liberal leader David Steel accused Callaghan of ‘running scared’, in spite of many opinion polls showing that the minority government could win an election at that time with a majority.
And Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was stabbed with a poison-tipped umbrella while he walked across Waterloo Bridge in London. He died four days later.

15 September: German terrorist Astrid Proll was arrested in London.

19 September: British Police launched a murder hunt following the discovery of the dead body of 13-year-old newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater at a farmhouse near Kingswinford in the West Midlands.