Philip Rabinowitz, better known as Phil Ramone, was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business partner Jack Arnold at 112 West 48th Street, New York, upstairs from the famous musicians' watering hole, Jim & Andy's, and several doors east of Manny's Music. The success of the original A & R Recording allowed it to expand into several studios and a record production company. He was described by Billboard as "legendary", and the BBC as a "CD pioneer".
Michael Andrew Sembello is an American singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and producer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Fever Tree is a former American psychedelic rock band of the 1960s, chiefly known for their anthemic 1968 hit, "San Francisco Girls ".
"Flashdance... What a Feeling" is a song from the 1983 film Flashdance with music by Giorgio Moroder and lyrics by Keith Forsey and the song's performer, Irene Cara. Moroder had been asked to score the film, and Cara and Forsey wrote most of the lyrics after they were shown the last scene from it in which the main character dances at an audition for a group of judges. They felt that the dancer's ambition to succeed could act as a metaphor for achieving any dream a person has and wrote lyrics that described what it feels like when music inspires someone to dance. The song wound up being used for the scene they watched as well as during the opening credits as the main character is shown working as a welder.
"Maniac" is a song from the 1983 film Flashdance that was written by Dennis Matkosky and its performer, Michael Sembello. The original idea for the song came to Matkosky while watching a news report on a serial killer, which inspired gruesome lyrics that he and Sembello expanded upon after finding a 1980 horror film with the same name. When Flashdance director Adrian Lyne grew attached to the demo of the song used during filming, his music supervisor Phil Ramone requested lyrics more appropriate for their story of a dancer and worked with Sembello to produce a new version for the soundtrack. The new recording was used for a scene in which protagonist Alexandra Owens trains rigorously at home.
What a Feelin' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Irene Cara. Released on November 2, 1983, this album is a continuation of the work that Cara began with producer Giorgio Moroder on the soundtrack to the 1983 film Flashdance. The dance-pop song she co-wrote with Moroder and Keith Forsey for the film, "Flashdance... What a Feeling", went to number one on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 and foreshadowed the style of this album, which was unlike her R&B-heavy debut. Although Cara was more accustomed to composing music, she relinquished most of those duties to Moroder here and shifted much of her songwriting focus to lyrics.
Chemistry is the second solo album by singer Johnny Gill. It was released on April 22, 1985.
Flashdance: Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack to the 1983 film Flashdance, which tells the story of Alex Owens, a welder and exotic dancer who dreams of becoming a professional ballerina. The nightclub performances by Alex and her co-workers and other set pieces involving training and auditioning provided opportunities to present the songs that would make up the soundtrack album. The film's music supervisor, Phil Ramone, made selections that he felt were the best fit for their respective scenes, and composer Giorgio Moroder contributed additional tracks in the process of scoring the film. One of his contributions, "Flashdance...What a Feeling" by Irene Cara, was released as a single in March 1983, weeks before the film's April 15 release, and eventually spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The soundtrack was released on April 11, 1983 by Casablanca Records.
"Make Believe It's Your First Time" is a song written by Bob Morrison and Johnny Wilson. Originally recorded by Bobby Vinton, the song was twice recorded by Karen Carpenter, both as a solo act and as a member of the Carpenters.
Karen Ichiuji-Ramone, known by her stage name Karen Kamon, was an American singer and actress.
Two Teardrops is the fifteenth studio album by American country music singer Steve Wariner. Released in 1999, it was his second studio album for Capitol Nashville. The album, which was certified gold in the United States, produced two singles for Wariner on the Billboard country charts in 1999: "I'm Already Taken" at number 3 and the title track at number 2. The former was originally recorded by Wariner in 1978, and was a number 63-peaking single for him on the country charts that year.
D.C. Cab: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 1983 film D.C. Cab. The producers selected artists for the album who were popular with a young, black audience, and the popularity of one of the film's stars, Mr. T, prompted the film's distributor to release the film four months earlier than planned. D.C. Cab performed poorly at the box office, and the soundtrack peaked at number 181 on the album chart in Billboard magazine.
Let's Love While We Can is the thirty-seventh studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the U.K. in 1980 by CBS Records. For this project Williams eschews covering well-known pop hits and standards and relies mostly on original or lesser-known country songs.
Merciless is the seventh studio album by American R&B singer Stephanie Mills. It was released in 1983 and Stephanie's second release on Casablanca Records. The album features two Billboard R&B hits in "Pilot Error", a cover version of Prince's "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" as well as "My Body" written by singer Luther Vandross. Merciless received a nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female at the 26th Grammy Awards in 1984.
The Heart of a Woman is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on November 25, 1974, by Columbia Records. Produced by ex-Motowner Johnny Bristol, the LP is made up mostly of new material, in that only three of the 10 songs had already been recorded by other artists.
Once in a While is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on May 23, 1988, by Columbia Records and found him returning to the practice of covering contemporary hits but also mixing in lesser-known songs already recorded by other artists along with a few new ones.
Bossa Nova U.S.A. is a studio album released by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1963 by Columbia originally in the United States as LP record CS 8798 (stereo) and CL 1998 (mono) and in England as SBPG 62127. It was also released by CBS in Australia, as catalog SPB 233.038.
Imagination is the fourteenth studio album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy and was released in February 1983 as her second LP for MCA Records. As with the first of the two, 1981's Play Me Out, it did not reach Billboard magazine's Top LP's & Tapes chart. MCA ended their contract with her afterward; in her 2006 autobiography, The Woman I Am: A Memoir, Reddy wrote, "I was not surprised when I received a form letter from [MCA]'s legal department telling me that I'd been dropped from the label."
"Automatic Man" is a song written by Michael Sembello, David Batteau, and Danny Sembello that was the first official single to be released from the 1983 album Bossa Nova Hotel by Michael Sembello. It reached number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)" is a song written by Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte, and the song's performer, Irene Cara, for the 1983 film D.C. Cab. Although not included on initial pressings of Cara's What a Feelin' LP, the decision to release the film four months earlier than originally slated prompted an arrangement for her album to be reissued with the song. A slightly different version (more noticeable in the intro) was also included on the film's soundtrack album; an edited version was released on the 7-inch single, and the 12-inch single included a much longer dance remix.
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