| "Caravan of Love" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Isley-Jasper-Isley | |
| from the album Caravan of Love | |
| B-side | "I Can't Get over Losin' You" |
| Released | 1985 |
| Recorded | East Orange, New Jersey, 1985 |
| Genre | R&B, soul |
| Length | 5:42 |
| Label | Epic |
| Songwriter(s) | Ernie Isley, Chris Jasper and Marvin Isley |
| Producer(s) | Ernie Isley, Chris Jasper and Marvin Isley |
"Caravan of Love" is a 1985 R&B hit originally recorded by Isley-Jasper-Isley, the second half of the Isley Brothers' 3 + 3 lineup of the 1970s.
After breaking away from the family group, the group (notably Chris Jasper) wrote and produced this single, which was Jasper's interpolation intending to reach audiences by presenting Christian beliefs in his music. The song became the trio's biggest hit going to number 1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and number 51 on the Billboard pop chart in 1985; [1] it would be their only prominent hit before they splintered into solo careers in 1988. The music video was filmed on-location in New York City.
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| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 [2] | 51 |
| US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks [2] | 1 |
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
| Dutch Top 40 [3] | 21 |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary [2] | 16 |
| "Caravan of Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by the Housemartins | ||||
| B-side | "When I First Met Jesus" | |||
| Released | November 1986 | |||
| Recorded | 1986 | |||
| Genre | A cappella | |||
| Length | 3:40 | |||
| Label | Go! Discs | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ernie Isley, Chris Jasper and Marvin Isley | |||
| Producer(s) | John Williams | |||
| The Housemartins singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
British indie band the Housemartins released "Caravan of Love" in November 1986. The a cappella song was a success, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart on 16 December 1986 (only the second a cappella recording to do so, after "Only You" by the Flying Pickets in 1983), before being denied the Christmas number one single by a posthumous re-release of Jackie Wilson's "Reet Petite". [4] The song was included on the Housemartins' greatest hits compilation Now That's What I Call Quite Good .
7-inch vinyl single
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12-inch vinyl single
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| Chart (1986–1987) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian (Kent Music Report) [5] | 24 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [6] | 7 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [7] | 5 |
| Ireland (IRMA) [8] | 1 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [9] | 3 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100) [10] | 3 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [11] | 2 |
| Norway (VG-lista) [12] | 2 |
| Spain (AFYVE) [13] | 4 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [14] | 1 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [15] | 2 |
| UK Singles (OCC) [16] | 1 |
| West Germany (Official German Charts) [17] | 2 |
| Chart (1987) | Position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [18] | 58 |
| European Top 100 Singles (Music & Media) [19] | 38 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [20] | 40 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100) [21] | 24 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [22] | 13 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [23] | 19 |
| West Germany (Official German Charts) [24] | 16 |
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(April 2018) |
The Isley Brothers are an American family musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly "Kelly" Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over six decades, the group has enjoyed one of the "longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music".
Paul David Heaton is an English singer-songwriter. He was the frontman of the Housemartins, who had success with the singles "Happy Hour" and the UK number one "Caravan of Love" in 1986 before disbanding in 1988. He then formed The Beautiful South, whose debut single and album were released in 1989 to commercial success. They had a series of hits throughout the 1990s, including the number-one single "A Little Time". They disbanded in 2007. He subsequently pursued a solo career, which produced three albums, and in 2014 he released What Have We Become?, a collaboration with former Beautiful South vocalist Jacqui Abbott. As of 2022, he has recorded four more albums with her: Wisdom, Laughter and Lines in 2015, Crooked Calypso in 2017, Manchester Calling in 2020 and N.K-Pop in 2022.
The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christianity, reflecting the beliefs of the band. The group's a cappella cover version of "Caravan of Love" was a UK number one single in December 1986.
Now That's What I Call Quite Good was the post-breakup greatest hits album from The Housemartins, released in 1988. As well as singles, the compilation includes various album tracks, B-sides and radio session recordings. It includes many humorous liner notes from the band.
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Christopher Howard Jasper is an American singer, composer, and producer. Jasper is a former member of the Isley Brothers and Isley-Jasper-Isley and is responsible for writing and producing the majority of the Isley Brothers music (1973–1983) and Isley-Jasper-Isley music (1984–1987). He is also a successful solo musician and record producer, recording over 17 of his own solo albums, including 4 urban contemporary gospel albums, all written, produced and performed, both vocally and instrumentally, by Jasper. He also produces artists for his New York City-based record label, Gold City Records. Jasper's keyboard and Moog synthesizer work was a primary ingredient of the Isley Brothers' sound of the 1970s and 1980s when the Isley Brothers were a self-contained band.
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"Who's Zoomin' Who" is a song performed by American singer Aretha Franklin. It was written by Franklin, Preston Glass, and Narada Michael Walden for her thirtieth studio album of the same name (1985), with production overseen by Walden. The hit song was released as the album's second single on August 27, 1985, by Arista Records. It serves as the follow-up single to Franklin's chart-topping smash "Freeway of Love", reaching number 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart that same year, and at the same time spending four weeks at the number-two spot on the Hot Black Singles chart. Elsewhere, the dance pop song entered the top twenty in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
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