''Carasmatic'' is

Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and actress of Black, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. Cara rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and f ...

's third and final studio album released in 1987. It was her only album for

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

. The album was mostly produced by

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 ...

. Many popular musicians also contributed to this album such as

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his sweet and soulful vocals, Vandross has sold over 40 million records worldwide. He achieved eleven consecutive P ...

, Lynn Davis,

James Ingram James Edward Ingram (February 16, 1952 – January 29, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a two-time Academy Awards, Academy Award nominee for Academy Award for Best Original ...

Patrice Rushen Patrice Louise Rushen (born September 30, 1954) is an American jazz pianist and R&B singer. She is also a composer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director. Her 1982 single "Forget Me Nots" received a Grammy Awar ...

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 ...

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

John Farrar John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963–64), The Stra ...

and

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin
, The Jewish Historical Society of New Haven, 1998. (born February 26, 1953), known professio ...

. The album, however, sold poorly and failed to make an impression on the charts. The lead single "Girlfriends" failed to generate enough sales or airplay to crack the Hot 100.

Track listing

# "Get a Grip" (Debbie Johnson, George Johnson, Cara) – 4:58 # "Give Me Love" (

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin
, The Jewish Historical Society of New Haven, 1998. (born February 26, 1953), known professio ...

Patrick Henderson Reverend Patrick Henderson is a gospel keyboard player, songwriter and producer. He has written several songs in collaboration with Michael McDonald, playing on a number of his and the Doobie Brothers albums. Henderson has long associations with ...

) – 3:58 # "We're Gonna Get Up" (

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 ...

David Batteau David Hurst Batteau (born June 25, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter. Batteau is the son of Blanca Batteau and Dr. Dwight Wayne Batteau, of Harvard University and Tufts University. He is the brother of singer-songwriter Robin Batteau. H ...

) – 4:42 # "Now That It's Over" (Doug James, Bolton) – 4:20 # "Say Goodnight Irene" (Cara,

) – 4:38 # "Don't Wanna Let Go" (James, Bolton) – 3:32 # "Girlfriends" (Gordon Grody, Cara) – 4:14 # "Be Your Number One" (Gerald Tillman, Harold Allen Jr., Yolanda "Yo-Yo" Smith) – 5:31 # "Falling in Love" (Bill Seidman) – 4:03

Personnel

* Irene Cara – lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 5, 8), acoustic piano (1), additional backing vocals (2), additional backing vocal solo (3),

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the early 1 ...

(5, 7),

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980 ...

solo (5), arrangements (7), BGV arrangements (8) * George Johnson – keyboards (1), synth bass (1), guitars (1, 8), guitar solo (1), bass guitar (1), arrangements (1, 8), additional backing vocal solo (3) * Steve Robbins – synthesizer solo (1), Synclavier piano (7), synthesizers (7),

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 ...

(9),

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

(9),

Oberheim OB-Xa The Oberheim OB-Xa was the second of Oberheim's OB-series polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizers, replacing the OB-X with updated features. History The OB-Xa was released in December 1980, replacing the OB-X after only a year on the mark ...

(9) *

– acoustic piano (2),

Prophet-5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential (company), Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith (engineer), Dave Smith and John S. Bowen (sound designer), John Bowen in 1977, who used Microprocessor, m ...

(2, 4, 6), Synclavier (2, 6, 7),

Memorymoog The Memorymoog is a polyphonic electronic music synthesizer manufactured by Moog Music from 1982 to 1985, the last polyphonic synthesizer to be released by Moog Music before the company declared bankruptcy in 1987. While comparable to other polyph ...

(2, 4, 6),

Linn 9000 The Linn 9000 is an electronic musical instrument manufactured by Linn Electronics as the successor to the LinnDrum. It was introduced in 1984 at a list price of $5,000, ($7,000 fully expanded) and about 1100 units were produced. It combined MIDI ...

(2), arrangements (2, 3, 4, 6), Yamaha TX816 (4), Yamaha DX7 (6),

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 ...

(6) *

– Yamaha DX7 (3),

Roland JX-8P Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

(3), Linn 9000 (3) *

Randy Kerber Randy Kerber (born September 25, 1958) is an American composer, orchestrator and keyboard player, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema.SeRandy Kerberat the IMDb Kerber was born in Encino, California. He began his first national t ...

– acoustic piano (4), Yamaha DX7 (4) *

– Synclavier (5), Yamaha TX816 horns (5),

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

(5), guitar (5), backing vocal solo (5) * Marcus Ryle – Oberheim Matrix-12 (5),

Kurzweil K250 The Kurzweil K250, manufactured by Kurzweil Music Systems, was an early electronic musical instrument which produced sound from sampled sounds compressed in ROM, faster than common mass storage such as a disk drive. Acoustic sounds from bras ...

(5), Synclavier (5) *

– keyboards (8), synth bass (8) * Frank Owens – acoustic piano (9) *

Paul Jackson, Jr. Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musi ...

– guitars (2, 4, 6, 7) * Freddie Washington – bass guitar (4) * Louis Johnson – bass guitar (8) *

Harvey Mason Harvey William Mason (born February 22, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay. Mason, who attended Berklee in the 1960s, received an Honorary Doctorate at Berklee's 2015 Commencement Ceremony for ...

– drums (1), Simmons tom fills (1) * John Robinson – drums (2), Simmons tom fills (3, 6) *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

– drums (5) * Harold Allen – drum sequencing (8) * Paulinho da Costa – percussion (3) * David Diggs – horn arrangements (1, 2) * George Del Barrio – string arrangements (4) * Gordon Grody – co-arrangements (7) * Bill Seidman – arrangements (9) * Charlotte Crossley – backing vocals (1, 6, 7), additional backing vocals (8) * Jo Ann Harris – backing vocals (1) *

David Lasley David Eldon Lasley (August 20, 1947 – December 9, 2021) was an American recording artist, singer, musician and songwriter. He was best known as a touring background singer for James Taylor, as a session singer on recordings by artists including ...

– backing vocals (1, 6) * Paulette McWilliams – backing vocals (1) *

– backing vocals (1), BGV arrangements (1) * Terry Bradford – backing vocals (2, 3) * Daryl Carpenter – additional backing vocals (2), backing vocal solo (8) *

– backing vocals (2, 3) * Jacquelyn Gouche – backing vocals (2, 3) * Joel Osborne – additional backing vocals (2) * Sybil Thomas – additional backing vocals (2) * Fred White – backing vocals (2, 3) * Elisecia Wright – backing vocals (2, 3) * Lynn Davis – backing vocals (6) *

Joyce Kennedy Joyce Kennedy (1898–1943) was a British stage and film actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such ...

– backing vocals (7), group vocals (8) *

– backing vocals (7) *

– backing vocals (7) * Wanda Vaughn – backing vocals (7) *

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 ...

– backing vocals (7) * Pat McKenna – additional backing vocals (8) * Yolanda Smith – additional backing vocals (8) *

Jim Gilstrap James Earl Gilstrap (born November 10, 1946)''U.S. Public Records Index'' Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010. is an American singer, considered one of the most prolific session musicians in the industry. He is best known for ...

– group vocals (8) *

– group vocals (8)

Production

* George Johnson – producer (1, 8), engineer (8) * Irene Cara – co-producer (1, 9), executive producer * George Duke – producer (2, 3, 4, 6, 7) * John Farrar – producer (5) * Bill Seidman – producer (9) * John Pace – engineer (1) * Erik Zobler – engineer (2, 3, 4, 6) * Allen Sides – engineer (5), mixing (5) * Tim Wilson – engineer (5) * Paul McKenna – engineer (8) * Michael Barbiero – mixing (1, 6, 7, 8), mix supervision (8) *

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 (2), string recording (4), engineer (7) * Michael Brauer – mixing (3, 4, 9) * Steve Thompson – mixing (6, 7, 8), mix supervision (8) * Dave Easton – assistant engineer (1) * Mitch Gibson – assistant engineer (3, 4, 6) *

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- ...

– LP mastering * Stephen Innocenzi – CD mastering * Bob Defrin – art direction, design * Antonio Lopez – cover artwork * Jeff Tomberg – management ;Studios * Recorded at

Ocean Way Recording Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

Sunset Sound Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...

and LeGonks West (Hollywood, CA);

Westlake Studios Westlake Recording Studios is a music recording studio in West Hollywood, California. History Westlake Recording Studios was founded in the early 1970s by the American audio engineer Tom Hidley under the name Westlake Audio. Hidley was experi ...

Cherokee Studios Cherokee Studios is a recording studio facility in Hollywood founded in 1972 by members of 1960s pop band The Robbs. Cherokee has been the location of many notable recordings by such artists as Steely Dan, David Bowie, Journey, The Cars, Foreign ...

, Lion Share Recording Studios and

The Village Recorder The Village (also known as Village Recorders, or the Village Recorder) is a recording studio located at 1616 Butler Avenue in West Los Angeles, California. History The building was built by the Freemasons in 1922 and was originally a Masonic ...

(Los Angeles, CA); Gate Way (Santa Barbara, CA); Altadena Sound (Altadena, CA); Moonee Ponds Studios (Malibu, CA); Metropolis (Studio City, CA); Nimbus 9 (New York City, NY). * Mixed at Mediasound (New York City, NY); Lion Share Recording Studios and

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

(Los Angeles, CA).

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1987 albums Irene Cara albums Albums produced by John Farrar Elektra Records albums