''A Time to Love'' is the twenty-third and most recent studio album by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

, his first since ''

Conversation Peace ''Conversation Peace'' is the 22nd album released by American musician Stevie Wonder, on the Motown label in 1995. The album was Wonder's first full-length non-soundtrack studio album since 1987's ''Characters''. This album yielded the hits "Fo ...

'' in 1995. Originally to have been completed in 2004, it was finally released to stores on October 18, 2005, following an exclusive digital release on Apple's

iTunes Music Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,000 ...

on September 27. The first single, issued in April 2005, was "

So What the Fuss "So What the Fuss" is a song from Stevie Wonder's 2005 album '' A Time to Love''. The song features En Vogue and Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or fo ...

", which featured

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

on guitar and

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single "Hol ...

on backing vocals. Follow-up singles included "Positivity" with his daughter Aisha Morris, "From the Bottom of My Heart" and "Shelter in the Rain". The song "Shelter in the Rain" was in tribute to his first wife, the singer

Syreeta Wright Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights we ...

, who died of cancer the year before this album was released. Wonder was quoted as saying he would have had Wright singing lead on it had she lived.

Reception

The album was received with generally positive reviews, despite its having been delayed several times during the year of its release. In 2005, Wonder won the

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

in the Grammy Awards for " From the Bottom of My Heart". This was his fourth win in this category. Wonder last won this award 29 years earlier in 1976 for ''

Songs in the Key of Life ''Songs in the Key of Life'' is the eighteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter and musician Stevie Wonder. A double album, it was released on September 28, 1976, by Tamla Records, a division of Motown. It was recorded primarily at Crys ...

''. His other wins in this category were in 1973 ("

You Are the Sunshine of My Life "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is a 1973 single released by Stevie Wonder. The song became Wonder's third number-one single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and his first number-one on the Easy Listening chart. It won Wonder a Grammy Award f ...

") and 1974 ( ''Fulfillingness First Finale'').

Track listing

Personnel

Music

* Thomassina Atkins – choir/chorus * Francis Awe –

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...

* Kimberly Brewer – background vocals * Shirley Brewer – background vocals *

Kim Burrell Kimberly Jean Burrell (born August 27, 1972) is an American, Grammy–nominated, gospel singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor from Houston, Texas, United States. Biography Early life Born Kimberly Jean Burrell on August 27, 1972 in Houston, Te ...

– primary vocals *

Teddy Campbell Glendon Theodore "Teddy" Campbell, Sr. (born February 24, 1975) is a gospel drummer & singer. He was the drummer on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''. He is the lead singer for the Soul Seekers. Biography Christian Youth M.B. of Chicago, is ...

– drums * Mabvuto Carpenter – background vocals * Jherimi Leigh Carter – choir/chorus * Wendell Kelly – trombone *

Oscar Castro-Neves Oscar Castro-Neves (May 15, 1940 - September 27, 2013), was a Brazilian guitarist, arranger, and composer who is considered a founding figure in bossa nova. Biography He was born in Rio de Janeiro as one of triplets and formed a band with his br ...

– guitar * Ayrianna Cerant – choir/chorus * Swapan Chaudhuri –

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

* Gregory Curtis – background vocals * Monique DeBarge – background vocals * DeVere Duckett – background vocals *

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass player and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degr ...

– bass guitar * Kevon Edmonds – background vocals * Lynne Fiddmont – background vocals * Brianna Ford – choir/chorus *

Doug E. Fresh Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...

–

beat box Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

* Patrick Gandy – conductor,

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...

* Richie Gajate Garcia –

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

hand percussion Hand percussion is a percussion instrument that is held in the hand. They can be made from wood, metal or plastic, bottles stops and are usually shaken, scraped, or tapped with fingers or a stick. It includes all instruments that are not drums o ...

* Tony Gates – choir/chorus * Daronn Gooden – choir/chorus * Timothy Hall – choir/chorus * Kenya Hathaway – background vocals *

India.Arie India Arie Simpson (born October 3, 1975), also known as India Arie (sometimes styled as india.arie), is an American singer and songwriter. She has sold over five million records in the US and ten million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards ...

– composer, primary artist * Herman Jackson – bells, keyboard * Phillip "Taj" Jackson – background vocals * Keith John – background vocals * Accalra Johnson – choir/chorus * Desarae Johnson – choir/chorus * Timothy Jon Johnson – background vocals * Unique Johnson – choir/chorus * Chatoya Jones – choir/chorus * Erica L. King – choir/chorus * Abbos Kosimov –

doira Daf ( fa, دف) also known as Dâyere and Riq is a Middle Eastern (mainly Persians, Iranian) frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, ...

* Debra Laws – background vocals *

Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 40 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm- ...

– flute *

Ricky Lawson William Riser III (November 8, 1954 – December 23, 2013), better known as Ricky Lawson, was an American drummer and composer. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he worked extensively as a session musician, collaborating with Stevie Wonder, Mich ...

– drums *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

– acoustic/electric guitar * Melody McCully – background vocals * Brijee McDowell – choir/chorus * Sebastian Mego – choir/chorus, background vocals * Kristie Mingo – background vocals * Aisha Morris – primary artist * Woody Murray –

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

* Traci Nelson – background vocals * Morris O'Connor – guitar * Conesha Owens – background vocals *

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

– electric piano * Mike Phillips – saxophone *

Doc Powell Doc Powell is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was born and raised in Spring Valley, New York. He attended college at University of Charleston. Career He has worked with Wilson Pickett, who chose him to be his musical director. He ha ...

– guitar *

– guitar * Bryan Sledge – choir/chorus * Amir Sofi –

darbouka The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / ALA-LC romanization, Romanized: ) is a single-head membrano ...

* Lamont Van Hook – background vocals *

Nathan Watts Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible *Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David and ...

– bass * Andy Weiner – conductor, orchestration, string arrangements * Willie Wheaton, Jr. – background vocals * Fred White – background vocals * Johneisha White – choir/chorus * Tamiko Whitsett – background vocals * Barbara Wilson – background vocals * Sherman B. Wilson – choir/chorus * LaLynda Winfield – choir/chorus * LaShanea Winfield – choir/chorus * LaShanique Winfield – choir/chorus *

– arranger, art conception, audio production, bass, bells,

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

chimes Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

clapping A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), b ...

clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

, composer, drawing,

drum loop In music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Longer sections can also be repeated: for example, a player might loop what they play on an entire verse of a song in order to ...

, drums, editing,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

finger cymbals Zills or zils (from Turkish 'cymbals'), also called finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. They are called () in Egypt. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. In Western music, several pa ...

, flexatones, flute arrangement, guitar loops, hand percussion,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

, keyboard guitar, keyboards,

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

Moog bass The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer designed and manufactured by Moog Music, originally conceived as a part of the Constellation series of synthesizers. The initial Taurus I was manufactured from 1975 to 1981; a less popular re ...

, organ,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, piano, piano (electric), primary artist, producer, programming,

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm sec ...

, sequencing arranger, string arrangements, synthesizer bass,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, vocal arrangement, vocals (background), voice box

Production

* Gary Adante – engineer * Stephanie Andrews – art conception, project coordinator * Robert A. Arbittier – digital editing, editing, overdubs, programming * David Blumberg – arranger * Barry G. Clark – technical support * Jeffrey Coprich – leader * Tom Corwin – engineer, producer * Scott Elgin – assistant * Aaron Fessel – engineer * Ernie Fields Jr. – contractor *

Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American songwriter, choir director, gospel singer, and rapper. He is best known for leading urban contemporary gospel ensembles such as The Family, God's Property, and One Nation Crew (1NC) a ...

– arranger, producer *

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

– mastering * Evren Göknar – assistant * John Holino – technical support * Femi Jiya – engineer, mixing * Steve Jones – programming * Jim Keller – assistant * Chris Kornmann – creative director * Nick Marshall – assistant *

Rickey Minor Rickey Minor is an American bass player, music director, composer and music producer. He was the musical director and bandleader on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' from 2010 to 2014, taking over after Kevin Eubanks left. Minor worked as mus ...

– orchestra supervision, string arrangements * Bobby Montez – assistant * Scott Moore – assistant * Francesco Perlangeli – assistant * Neil Pogue – mixing * Joel Poinsett – assistant * Josean Posey – engineer *

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

– producer * Dave Reitzas – engineer *

Paul Riser Paul Riser (born September 11, 1943) is an American trombonist and Motown musical arranger who was responsible for co-writing and arranging dozens of top ten hit records. His legacy as one of the "Funk Brothers" is similar to that of most of the ...

– arranger * Anthony Ruotolo – engineer *

Rafa Sardina Rafael Sardina, known professionally as Rafa Sardina, is a basque recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer known for his work with Alejandro Sanz, Luis Miguel, Calle 13, D'Angelo, The Clare Fischer Big Band and Lady Gaga. Sard ...

– engineer * Christine Sirois – assistant * Ralph Sutton – engineer * Heratch Touresian – programming * Gregory Upshaw – wardrobe * Peter Vargo – assistant * Donnie Whittmore – assistant * Val Williams – make-up * Eddie Wolfl – photography

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

Stevie Wonder interview with ''Newsweek'', in which he discusses the album
{{DEFAULTSORT:Time to Love 2005 albums Albums produced by Stevie Wonder Motown albums Stevie Wonder albums