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''Forever Your Girl'' is the debut
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
by American singer
Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographe ...
. It was released on June 21, 1988, through
Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwi ...
. The album was Abdul's breakthrough into the music industry after being a
choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...
for high-profile artists including
George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling music ...
,
ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...
,
Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band went ...
and most notably
Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...
. At the time of the album's release it was the most successful debut album of all time and was the first time an artist scored four US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles from a debut album. It is currently certified 7× platinum by the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
.


Background

In 1987, Abdul, once a choreographer for
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
and high-profile artists including
George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling music ...
,
ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...
,
Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band went ...
and most notably
Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...
, used her savings to make a singing demo. Soon thereafter, she was signed to
Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwi ...
by
Jeff Ayeroff Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff (born January 20, 1947) is an American record executive who has worked for A&M, Warner Records, Virgin U.S., Work Group, Apple, and Shangri-La Music. He founded Rock the Vote in 1990 in response to a censorship campaign ag ...
, who had worked in marketing at
A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distri ...
with Janet Jackson. Although she was a skilled dancer and choreographer, Abdul was a relatively untrained singer, and worked with various coaches and record producers to develop her vocal ability, with her vocal range defined as
mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
. Ayeroff recalled signing Abdul to a recording contract years later, stating: "She said, 'I can sing, you know. I want to do an album.' Paula's in our industry. Here's someone with a personality and she's gorgeous, and she can dance. If she can sing, she could be a star. So she went into the studio and cut a demo record and she could sing." The album was made on a budget of $72,000.


Release and reception

On October 7, 1989, 64 weeks after its July 23, 1988 debut on the chart, ''Forever Your Girl'' hit number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 album sales chart, the longest an album has been on the market before hitting number one. The album was eventually
certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...
seven times
Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platin ...
in the US by the RIAA and has sold over 18 million copies worldwide. It also includes four number one ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles: "
Straight Up Straight up is a bartending term referring to a chilled drink served in a stemmed glass without ice. Straight Up may also refer to: * ''Straight Up'' (book), by author, blogger, physicist and climate expert Joseph J. Romm * ''Straight Up'' (Ha ...
", "
Forever Your Girl ''Forever Your Girl'' is the debut studio album by American singer Paula Abdul. It was released on June 21, 1988, through Virgin Records. The album was Abdul's breakthrough into the music industry after being a choreographer for high-profile ar ...
", "
Cold Hearted "Cold Hearted" is a 1989 song by American singer Paula Abdul from her debut album, ''Forever Your Girl'' (1988). It was written and co-produced by Elliot Wolff, and hit number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the album's third son ...
", and "
Opposites Attract "Opposites Attract" is a song by American singer Paula Abdul from her debut album, '' Forever Your Girl'' (1988). It was written and produced by Oliver Leiber. Vocals on the song, in addition to Abdul, were provided by Bruce DeShazer and Marv Gun ...
", which ties ''Forever Your Girl'' for second most number-one songs from a single album, and ties it for the most number ones in a debut album. She was the first female artist to have four number one singles from a debut album. "The Way That You Love Me" reached #3, and "Knocked Out" reached #41. The album also reached #4 on the R&B album chart, while "Straight Up", "Opposites Attract", "Knocked Out", and "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" all reached the top 10 of the R&B tracks chart. After a slow start, the album's third single "Straight Up" helped the album breakout in spring/summer 1989 after its initial summer 1988 release. ''Forever Your Girl'' hit number one for the first time on October 7, 1989. After the release of the single "Opposites Attract", the album shot to number one again on February 3, 1990 and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks. By 1998, Billboard Magazine reported that ''Forever Your Girl'' was the most successful album released by the Virgin Records label, with all five of its top 20 hits also appearing on the same chart ranking Virgin's singles.


Accolades


Track listing


Personnel

Adapted from AllMusic. * Paula Abdul –
lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...
* Marvin Gunn and Bruce DeShazer AKA Tony Christin - backing vocals * Peter Arata – mixing assistant *
Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...
keyboards, producer, backing vocals *
Glen Ballard Basil Glen Ballard Jr. (born May 1, 1953) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer. He is best known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's 1995 album ''Jagged Little Pill'', which won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Alb ...
drums, producer, programming * Russ Bracher – engineer *
Pattie Brooks Pattie Brooks (sometimes credited as Patti Brooks and Patty Brooks) is an American singer most frequently associated with the disco era. She was born in Fort Riley, Kansas to a military family. Her first break came in 1968 when she auditioned fo ...
– backing vocals * Wally Buck – engineer * Francis Buckley – engineer, mixing * Annette Cisneros – assistant engineer * Dave Cochran –
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six string instrument, strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or Plucked string instrument, plucking the strings with the dominant hand, w ...
, backing vocals * Keith "KC" Cohen – mixing, producer * Delisa Davis – backing vocals * Tami Day – backing vocals * Jimmy Demers – backing vocals * Eddie M. –
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to ...
on "I Need You" * Al Fleming – assistant engineer * Basil Fung – guitar * Jon Gass – engineer, mixing * Bobby Gonzales – guitar * Danny Grigsby – assistant engineer * Evelyn Halus – backing vocals *
Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the C ...
– guitar * Tim Jaquette – engineer, mixing * Jesse Johnson – drums, keyboards, producer * Cliff Jones – assistant engineer, engineer * Kayo – synthesizer, synthesizer bass * Oliver Leiber – arranger, drum programming, guitar, keyboards, producer, programming *
Jeff Lorber Jeffrey H. Lorber (born November 4, 1952) is an American keyboardist, composer, and record producer. After six previous nominations, Lorber won his first Grammy Award on January 28, 2018 for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for ''Prototype'' ...
– drum programming, engineer, guest artist, keyboards, producer * Yvette Marine – backing vocals * Pat McDougal – assistant engineer * Lucia Newell – backing vocals * Ricky P. – keyboards * Pebbles – guest artist, backing vocals *
L.A. Reid Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer. He is the founder and served as co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment. He also previously served as the chairman and CEO of Ep ...
– drums, guest artist, percussion programming, producer * Angel Rogers – backing vocals * Josh Schneider – assistant engineer * Daryl Simmons – backing vocals * Bob Somma – guitar *
St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
– arranger, bass, keyboards, Organ,
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 i ...
* Kendall Stubbs – engineer * Randy Weber – programming, synthesizer * Steve Weise – engineer * Troy Williams - saxophone on "Forever Your Girl" * Wild Pair – vocals, backing vocals


Charts


Certifications


See also

*
List of best-selling albums by women The following albums, recorded by female solo artists and all-female groups, have sold at least 10 million copies. This list can contain any types of album, including studio albums, extended plays, greatest hits, compilations, soundtracks, an ...


References


External links


Paula Abdul Billboard peaks
{{Authority control 1988 debut albums Paula Abdul albums Virgin Records albums Albums produced by L.A. Reid Albums produced by Babyface (musician) New jack swing albums