Your Secret Love

This article is about the album. For the title track from the album, see Your Secret Love (song).

Your Secret Love
Studio album by Luther Vandross
Released	October 1, 1996
Recorded	October 1995–July 1996
Studio	Camel Island Studios (Los Angeles)
Length	60:14
Label	LV Epic
Producer	Luther Vandross (also exec.) Marcus Miller Nat Adderley, Jr.
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
"Your Secret Love" Released: August 20, 1996 "I Can Make It Better" Released: November 26, 1996

Your Secret Love is the eleventh 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.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B− [3]
Music Week	[4]
Muzik	(Springer) [5] (Jones) [6]
Q	[7]
Rolling Stone	[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.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Your Secret Love"	Luther Vandross Reed Vertelney	Vandross	4:12
2.	"Love Don't Love You Anymore"	Vandross	Vandross	5:12
3.	"It's Hard for Me to Say"	Vandross Skip Anderson	Vandross	4:34
4.	"Crazy Love"	David Lasley Robin Lerner Marsha Malamet Allan Rich	Vandross	5:13
5.	"I Can Make It Better"	Vandross Marcus Miller	Vandross Miller	5:35
6.	"Too Proud to Beg"	Vandross Vertelney	Vandross	4:50
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)	Vandross	Vandross	5:31
10.	"This Time I'm Right"	Vandross	Vandross	5:07
11.	"Knocks Me Off My Feet"	Stevie Wonder	Vandross Nat Adderley, Jr.	3:44
12.	"Goin' Out of My Head"	Teddy Randazzo Bob Weinstein	Vandross Adderley	5:17
Total length:				60:14

Personnel

• Luther Vandross – lead vocals, vocal arrangements, arrangements (1, 5, 8), backing vocals (6)
• Reed Vertelney – keyboards (1, 5), string programming (1), bass (1, 5), drum programming (1), arrangements (1, 5), drums (5), strings (5)
• John "Skip" Anderson – additional keyboards (1), strings (1, 3), bass (1, 2, 3), arrangements (1, 5, 8), keyboards (2), synth strings (2), drums (2, 3, 8), acoustic piano (3), synthesizers (8), synth orchestra and arrangements (8),
• Ivan Hampden Jr. – additional programming (1), drums (9, 10), percussion (9)
• Marcus Miller – all instruments (4, 6), programming (4, 6, 7), arrangements (4, 6, 7), backing vocals (6), keyboards (7), guitar (7), bass (8, 10)
• David Ward – additional programming (4), programming (7)
• Nat Adderley Jr. – vibraphone solo (7), acoustic piano (8, 10), arrangements (8, 9, 10), keyboards (9), synth bass (9)
• Paul Jackson Jr. – guitar (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10), additional guitar (4), acoustic guitar (7)
• Yogi Horton – drums (8)
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion (2, 3, 5, 8)
• Kirk Whalum – saxophone solo (10)
• Leon Pendarvis – string arrangements (2, 4)
• Alfred Brown – music contractor (4, 9, 10)
• Tawatha Agee – backing vocals (1–5, 7, 10)
• Paulette McWilliams – backing vocals (1–5, 7, 10)
• Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals (1–5, 7, 10)
• Brenda White-King – backing vocals (1–5, 7, 10)
• Lisa Fischer – backing vocals (2, 4), lead vocals (9)
• David Lasley – backing vocals (2)
• Cheryl Lynn – backing vocals (2)
• Cissy Houston – backing vocals (4, 10)
• Deidra "Spin" Roper – rap (7)
• Fonzi Thornton – backing vocals (10), vocal contractor

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

• Recorded at Camel Island Studios (Los Angeles, California) and Sony Scoring Stage (Culver City, California).
• Mixed at The Hit Factory (New York City, New York).
• Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York).

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for Your Secret Love Chart (1996) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA) [11] 145 Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [12] 18 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [13] 61 UK Albums (OCC) [14] 14 US Billboard 200 [15] 9 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [16] 2

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for Your Secret Love Chart (1996) Position US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [17] 61

Certifications

Certifications for Your Secret Love

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [18]	Gold	50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [19]	Silver	60,000^
United States (RIAA) [20]	Platinum	1,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Your Secret Love at AllMusic
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. 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 . September 28, 1996. p. 24. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
5. Springer, Jacqueline (December 1996). "Luther Vandross: Your Secret Love" (PDF). Muzik . No. 19. p. 134. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2022. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
6. Jones, Bob (December 1996). "Luther Vandross: Your Secret Love" (PDF). Muzik . No. 19. p. 158. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2022. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
7. "Luther Vandross - Your Secret Love CD Album". CD Universe . Retrieved April 4, 2013.
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.