''Bossa Nova Hotel'' is the 1983 debut album of rock singer/guitarist

Michael Sembello Michael Andrew Sembello (born April 17, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and producer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sembello was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his 1983 song " ...

. The album was a continuation of the work that Sembello began with producer

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business par ...

on "

Maniac Maniac (from Greek μανιακός, ''maniakos'') is a pejorative for an individual who experiences the mood known as mania. In common usage, it is also an insult for someone involved in reckless behavior. Maniac may also refer to: Film * ' ...

," which became a number one US pop hit after it was featured in the film ''

Flashdance ''Flashdance'' is a 1983 American romantic drama dance film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer who aspires to become a professional ballerina (Alex), alongside Michael Nouri playing her boyfriend an ...

'' and on its

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

. ''Bossa Nova Hotel'' peaked at number 80 on the US album chart and included the soundtrack hit in addition to two more chart entries, "Automatic Man" and "Talk."

Background

Songwriters Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky recorded a demo of a song titled "

" that they had written after Matkosky watched a news report about a serial killer, and the tape landed in the hands of

, who was looking for songs to use in the film ''

''. After changing the lyrics, a new version of "Maniac" recorded by Sembello was released on the soundtrack album and went to number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the summer of 1983. The singer-songwriter chose to work with Ramone on his debut album because he felt they were a good match. Having worked with so many producers over the years as a session musician, he knew how inflexible they could be, but Ramone was different. "Phil is just about as nuts as I am and will try anything, which is great." On the material itself, he said, "I wanted to take some of the elements of Brazilian music and fuse them with pop,… kind of the way

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

have done with

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

Release and reception

''Bossa Nova Hotel'' was released by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

in September 1983 and debuted on ''Billboard'' magazine's

Top LPs & Tape The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

chart in the issue dated October 8. During a 10-week run, it reached number 80.. "

Automatic Man Automatic Man was an American rock music, rock band from San Francisco. Consisting of well-respected musicians of diverse backgrounds within the rock, funk and jazz communities of the mid-1970s, Automatic Man played progressive rock and space r ...

", the first official single from the album, debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the September 24, 1983, issue, and peaked at number 34 over the course of 10 weeks.. The second single – a duet with his wife Cruz called "Talk" – started its 10 weeks on the magazine's Adult Contemporary chart in the February 4, 1984, issue and got as high as number 25.

J. D. Considine J. D. Considine (born 1957) is a music critic who has been writing about music professionally since 1977. Background J. D. Considine's work has been published in numerous newspapers and music magazines, and he has contributed to several books. ...

wrote in ''

Musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

'': "You could sum up Sembello's sound as Michael McDonald with a rhythm machine, but that would be unnecessarily cruel to McDonald. And the rhythm machine." The album was re-issued in 2007 on CD by

Wounded Bird Records Wounded Bird Records is an American compact disc only re-issue record label that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from popular and lesser known artists, including Paul Butterfield, Cactus, Herbie ...

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

*Michael Sembello - lead vocals, bass synth, bass, guitar, marimba solo, synthesizers, acoustic guitar,

LinnDrum The LinnDrum, also referred to as the LM-2, is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics between 1982 and 1985. About 5,000 units were sold. Its high-quality samples, flexibility and affordability made the LinnDrum popular; it sold far mo ...

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 ...

Danny Sembello Daniel Sembello (January 15, 1963 – August 15, 2015) was an American songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. He produced recordings by artists including George Benson and Pebbles, and he had his compositions recorded by Chaka K ...

- bass synth, tack piano solo, keyboards, synthesizers, marimba, acoustic piano *

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Colai ...

- drums *

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 * Paulinho Da Costa - percussion *Carlos Vega - drums, Simmons drums *Don Freeman - keyboards *Larry McNeely - banjo *Chris Page - additional synthesizer *Cruz Baca Sembello - guest vocals on "Talk" *Dennis Matkosky - keyboards, synthesizers *

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

- synthesizer solo *Dennis Karmazyn - cello *

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 ...

- string arranger, conductor *Michael Sembello, John Sembello, Danny Sembello, Cruz Baca Sembello, Liza Miller - background vocals *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', ''Rock with You'', ...

, Gary Herbig, Gary Grant, William Reichenbach - horns ;Technical *

– producer *Michael Sembello – producer ("Maniac") *

Thom Wilson Thom Wilson (died February 8, 2015) was an American punk rock record producer and engineer. Career Wilson began his musical career in the mid-1970s, engineering recordings by soft rock artists Burton Cummings and Seals & Crofts. He began working ...

, Jim Gallagher, Peter Chaikin - recording engineers *

Tommy Vicari Thomas Vicari (born August 24, 1948) is an American recording engineer, mixing engineer, record producer and scoring mixer known for his work with Quincy Jones, Gino Vannelli, Nicholas Britell, Thomas Newman, Prince, George Duke and Barbra Streisan ...

- mixing *

Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...

- mastering *Richard Seireeni, Simon Levy - art director *John Colao - photography

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Authority control 1983 debut albums Albums produced by Phil Ramone Michael Sembello albums Warner Records albums