Wanna Be with You

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"Wanna Be with You"
EarthWind&Fire - Wanna Be with You.jpg
Single by Earth, Wind & Fire
from the album Raise!
B-side "Kalimba Tree Instrumental" (US)
"My Love" (UK)
ReleasedDecember 1981
RecordedMay 1981
Genre R&B
Length4:41
Label ARC/Columbia
Songwriters
Producer Maurice White
Earth, Wind & Fire singles chronology
"Let's Groove"
(1981)		"Wanna Be with You"
(1981)		"I've Had Enough"
(1982)

"Wanna Be with You" is a song by R&B band Earth, Wind & Fire issued as a single in December 1981 by ARC/Columbia Records. [1] The single rose to No. 15 on the US Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart, No. 7 on the UK Blues & Soul Top British Soul Singles chart and No. 40 on the RPM Canadian Pop Singles Chart. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Overview

"Wanna Be with You" was produced by Maurice White and composed by White with Wayne Vaughn. The single's US b-side was an instrumental of an interlude called Kalimba Tree with its UK b-side being a song called My Love. Wanna Be With You, Kalimba Tree and My Love came from EWF's 1981 studio album Raise! . [1]

Critical reception

Don Palmer of Musician proclaimed that "Wanna Be with You" is a relaxed shuffle bump boogie based around a ten note piano vamp. The handclaps provide a solid back beat while the horns and altered vocal yelps exclaim the obvious". [5] Tim de Lisle of Smash Hits called Wanna Be with You "a pleasant surprise, an excellent melody given a fresh jazzy treatment. [6]

"Wanna Be with You" won a Grammy Award in the category of Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. [7]

Covers

Wanna Be with You was covered by the jazz group Urban Knights on their 1995 album Urban Knights I. [8]

Personnel

Engineers [9]

Chart positions

Chart (1982)Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles 15
U.S. Cashbox Top R&B Singles17 [10]
UK Blues & Soul Top British Soul Singles7 [3]
RPM Canadian Top Singles Chart40 [4]
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 51

References

  1. 1 2 Earth, Wind & Fire: Wanna Be With You. ARC/Columbia Records. December 1981.
  2. ↑ "Earth, Wind & Fire: Wanna Be With You (Hot Soul Songs)". billboard.com. Billboard.
  3. 1 2 Top British Soul Singles. Blues & Soul. April 20, 1982.
  4. 1 2 RPM Top Singles. Vol. 36. RPM. March 6, 1982 – via bac-lac.gc.ca.
  5. ↑ Palmer, Don (January 1, 1982). RECORD REVIEWS: Earth, Wind & Fire. Musician. p. 83 & 84. ProQuest   962646665.
  6. ↑ de Lisle, Tim (March 18, 1982). Earth, Wind & Fire: Wanna Be with You. Smash Hits. p. 25.
  7. ↑ "Earth, Wind & Fire". grammy.com. The Recording Academy.
  8. ↑ Pallow, Dennis (October 30, 1995). "Urban Knights Gallop Through A '70s Groove". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune.
  9. ↑ "Jaxsta". jaxsta.com. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  10. ↑ "Cashbox Top R&B Singles". cashboxmagazine.com. Cashbox. February 27, 1982.
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