Your Secret Love

Last updated
Your Secret Love
Luther Vandross - Your Secret Love album cover.jpg
Studio album by
Luther Vandross
ReleasedOctober 1, 1996
RecordedOctober 1995–July 1996
StudioCamel Island Studios (Los Angeles)
Length60:14
Label
Producer
Luther Vandross chronology
This Is Christmas
(1995)		Your Secret Love
(1996)		 One Night with You: The Best of Love, Volume 2
(1997)
Singles from Your Secret Love
  1. "Your Secret Love"
    Released: August 20, 1996
  2. "I Can Make It Better"
    Released: November 26, 1996

Your Secret Love is the tenth studio album by American R&B singer Luther Vandross, released by Epic Records in October 1996. The album's title track won the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and was nominated for Best R&B Song at the 39th Grammy Awards in 1997. The album served as Vandross's final album under Epic Records after being part of the record label for fifteen years.

Contents

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Entertainment Weekly B− [3]
Music Week Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Muzik Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg (Springer) [5]
Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg (Jones) [6]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [7]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [8]

Greg Kot, writing for Chicago Tribune , noted that with Your Secret Love "Vandross' brilliance as the most artful soul singer of his time has never been more apparent. Your Secret Love is stuffed with ballads [...] Vandross keeps the tunes simmering, however, with a voice that never calls attention to its spectacular range but rather engages in a nuanced dialogue with his veteran musicians, backing vocalists and duet partners." [2] AllMusic editor William Ruhlmann found that the album had "much in common with its predecessors. It is filled with midtempo love ballads in which Vandross emotes over tasteful R&B gospel arrangements, mostly writing his own songs, but also finding room for a couple of pop favorites [...] As steeped as he is in the nomenclature of R&B vocal expressionism, Vandross as usual sounds more self-involved than romantically devoted." [1]

J.R.Reynolds from Billboard wrote that Your Secret Love "demonstrates a practiced versatility via trademark style tracks, an obligatory cover tune, a genre-bending song, and guest artists." [9] David Browne from Entertainment Weekly noted that the "latest batch of love songs are mostly serviceable, and the studio-musician sterility of the music makes nearly every track [...] seem interchangeable. Unrequited passion will always be in style, but Vandross needs to seduce some new sounds as desperately as he does the partners in his songs." [3] The Advocate 's Barry Walters called Your Secret Love "the singer's most low-key, nearly snoozy album. He felt that "like most Vandross albums, Your Secret Love has its share of borrowed songs personalized by the singer's patented groans, croons, and cries." [10]

Track listing

Your Secret Love track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Your Secret Love"
Vandross4:12
2."Love Don't Love You Anymore"VandrossVandross5:12
3."It's Hard for Me to Say"
  • Vandross
  • Skip Anderson
Vandross4:34
4."Crazy Love"
Vandross5:13
5."I Can Make It Better"
  • Vandross
  • Miller
5:35
6."Too Proud to Beg"
  • Vandross
  • Vertelney
Vandross4:50
7."I Can't Wait No Longer (Let's Do This)" (featuring Deidra "Spin" Roper of Salt-n-Pepa)
  • Miller
  • Dee Dee Roper
  • Vandross
  • Miller
5:39
8."Nobody to Love"
  • Vandross
  • Miller
  • Vandross
  • Miller
5:45
9."Whether or Not the World Gets Better" (duet with Lisa Fischer)VandrossVandross5:31
10."This Time I'm Right"VandrossVandross5:07
11."Knocks Me Off My Feet" Stevie Wonder
3:44
12."Goin' Out of My Head"
  • Vandross
  • Adderley
5:17
Total length:60:14

Personnel

Production

  • Luther Vandross – producer, executive producer
  • Marcus Miller – producer (4, 6, 7)
  • Nat Adderley Jr. – producer (9, 10)
  • Ray Bardani – recording (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10), mixing
  • David Ward – recording (4, 6, 7)
  • Al Schmitt – orchestra recording
  • Mike Baumgartner – assistant engineer
  • Kyle Bess – assistant engineer
  • Greg Denon – assistant engineer
  • Mark Eshelman – assistant engineer
  • Paul Falcone – assistant engineer
  • Sue McLean – assistant engineer
  • Pat Weber – assistant engineer
  • Max Risenhoover – digital editing, sound designer (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10)
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Bibi Green – production coordinator (for Marcus Miller)
  • Pat Dorn – album coordinator
  • George Corsillo – art direction, design
  • Norman Jean Roy – photography
  • Guzman (Connie Hansen and Russell Peacock) – front cover photography
  • The Marsha Burns Co. / Gallin-Morey Associates – management
  • Max Szadek – personal assistant
Studios

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Your Secret Love
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [18] Gold50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [19] Silver60,000^
United States (RIAA) [20] Platinum1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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References

  1. 1 2 Your Secret Love at AllMusic
  2. 1 2 Kot, Greg (October 11, 1996). "Luther Vandross Your Secret Love (Epic)". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Browne, David (October 14, 1996). "Your Secret Love Review". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on April 10, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Reviews: Albums" (PDF). Music Week . 1996-09-28. p. 24. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  5. ↑ Springer, Jacqueline (December 1996). "Luther Vandross: Your Secret Love" (PDF). Muzik . No. 19. p. 134. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  6. ↑ Jones, Bob (December 1996). "Luther Vandross: Your Secret Love" (PDF). Muzik . No. 19. p. 158. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  7. ↑ "Luther Vandross - Your Secret Love CD Album". CD Universe . Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  8. ↑ Magazine, Rolling Stone (1992). The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll: The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music. ISBN   9780679737285.
  9. ↑ Reynolds, J.R. (October 19, 1996). "Reviews & Previews: Albums" (PDF). Billboard . p. 61. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  10. ↑ Walters, Barry (October 19, 1996). "Music: Love Hurts". The Advocate . p. 82. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Luther Vandross ARIA Chart History complete to 2024". ARIA. Retrieved July 26, 2024– via Imgur.com. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.
  12. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 9521". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Luther Vandross – Your Secret Love" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Luther Vandross | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Luther Vandross Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Luther Vandross Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  17. ↑ "R&B/Hip-Hop Albums: Year End 1996". Billboard . Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Luther Vandross – Your Secret Love". Music Canada.
  19. ↑ "British album certifications – Luther Vandross – Your Secret Love". British Phonographic Industry.
  20. ↑ "American album certifications – Luther Vandross – Your Secret Love". Recording Industry Association of America.
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