''If My Heart Had Wings'' is an album by the American musician
Melissa Manchester, released in 1995. It was a commercial disappointment.
Manchester promoted the album by performing its first single, "In a Perfect World", on the soap opera ''
General Hospital
''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...
''.
Production
The album was executive produced by
Arif Mardin and Michael Lippman. Due to Manchester's work on the musical ''I Sent a Letter to My Love'', the album was produced over a period of two years. "If My Heart Had Wings" was written with
Amy Sky.
Critical reception
''
Entertainment Weekly'' wrote that, "too often, the tunes on ''If My Heart Had Wings'' sound like bland anthems in search of a maudlin movie score."
The ''
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' thought that "Manchester turns in a hopelessly-out-of-it performance that serves as a harsh reminder that having great pipes is no guarantee of success."
[ '' The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' opined that it was "too bad Manchester couldn't take a cue from Bonnie Raitt, whose music has grown along with her shock of gray hair and her insight."][
AllMusic wrote that the album was "filled with big, dramatic ballads and widescreen production values."][
]
Track listing
Personnel
* Melissa Manchester – vocals, backing vocals (6), arrangements (6, 8)
* Robbie Kondor
Robbie Kondor is an American composer, session musician, and arranger. He has worked as a composer on '' The Significant Other'', ''Ball In The House'', ''Sally Jessy Raphael'', ''Happiness'' (1998), ''The Suburbans'' (1999), '' Forever Fabulous ...
– keyboards (1), keyboard programming (1), arrangements (1), additional keyboards (7)
* Joe Mardin Joe Mardin (born Yusuf Mardin) is a Turkish-American music producer, arranger and engineer from New York City. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate and is the son of the Turkish American producer Arif Mardin. Joe Mardin is also a conductor, s ...
– additional keyboards (1), cymbal
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
s (1), hi-hat
A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...
(1)
* Steve Skinner – additional keyboards (1), keyboards (5, 7), programming (5, 7), arrangements (5, 7)
* Scott Alspach – keyboards (2), programming (2)
* Jud Friedman – keyboards (2), programming (2), string arrangements (2)
* Robbie Buchanan – keyboards (3, 9, 10), arrangements (9)
* Claude Gaudette – keyboards (4, 6), orchestra programming and arrangements (4)
* Tom Salisbury – acoustic piano (6), backing vocals (6)
* Michael Lang – acoustic piano (8)
* John Putnam – guitars (1, 7)
* Teddy Castellucci – guitars (2)
* Tim Pierce – guitars (3, 10)
* Peter Hume – guitars (6), backing vocals (6)
* Dennis Budimir – guitars (8)
* Michael Landau
Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitch ...
– guitars (9)
* Will Lee – bass (1, 7)
* Cliff Hugo – bass (6)
* Chuck Berghofer – bass (8)
* Neil Stubenhaus
Neil Stubenhaus is an American bass guitarist.
Career
He started his musical training playing drums and switched to bass guitar at the age of 12. He studied at the Berklee College of Music where he graduated in 1975. After graduation, he was rec ...
– bass (9)
* Bob Harsen – drums (3, 10)
* Carlos Vega – drums (4, 6)
* Vinnie Colaiuta – drums (8, 9)
* Brian Kilgore – percussion (2)
* Efrain Toro – percussion (6)
* Roger Rosenberg – baritone saxophone (1)
* Andy Snitzer – tenor saxophone (1)
* Danny Wilensky – alto saxophone (5)
* Doug Norwine – saxophone (6)
* Gary Foster – clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
(8)
* Charles Loper – trombone (8)
* Jimmy Hynes – trumpet (1)
* Frank Szabo
Frank J. Szabo (born September 16, 1952, died July 26, 2018) was a Hungarian-American trumpeter and Jazz artist.
Szabo was born in Budapest but fled with his family to the United States after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 that displaced many. ...
– trumpet (8)
* Melissa Hasin – cello (7)
* Jimbo Ross – viola (7)
* Margaret Wooten – violin (7)
* Richard Greene – violin solo (7)
* Arif Mardin – arrangements (1, 7-9), string arrangements (7), orchestration (9)
* David Campbell – string arrangements (2)
* Gene Orloff – concertmaster (9)
* Johnny Mandel – string arrangements (10)
* Christopher Tate – choir master (1, 3)
* Deborah A. Alexander, Beverly Dangerfield, Ettamaria Ellis, Warren Harrington, Dewayne C. Knox, Charles May and Linda T. Willis – backing vocals (1, 3)
* Jerry Barnes – additional backing vocals (1)
* Katreese Barnes – additional backing vocals (1)
* Rachele Cappelli – additional backing vocals (1)
* Sue Holder – backing vocals (6)
* Carolyn Willis – backing vocals (6)
* Peggi Blu
Peggi Blu is an American actress, singer and vocal coach. She is the 1986 "''Star Search Grand Champion (Female Vocalist)''" winner and the winner of the 2013 "Malibu Music Awards" ("''Vocal Coach of the Year''") award. She is best known as an ...
– backing vocals (9)
* Ollie Cregget – backing vocals (9)
* 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 ...
– backing vocals (9)
* Phillip Ingram – backing vocals (9)
* Witnley Phipps – vocals (10)
Production
* Michael Lippman – executive producer, management
* Arif Mardin – executive producer, producer (1, 5, 7-9)
* Jud Friedman – producer (2)
* Ron Nevison – producer (3, 4, 10), engineer (3, 4, 10)
* Melissa Manchester – producer (6)
* Michael O'Reilly – engineer (1, 5, 7, 8), remixing (1, 5, 7-9)
* Taavi Mote – engineer (2), remixing (2)
* Chris Lord-Alge – remixing (3, 4, 10)
* Jeremy Smith – additional engineer (5), engineer (6, 9), remixing (6)
* Corey Baker – assistant engineer
* Greg Barrett – assistant engineer
* Shawn Berman – assistant engineer
* Brian Broadwater – assistant engineer
* Bruce Buchanan – assistant engineer
* John Jackson – assistant engineer
* Rail Rogut – assistant engineer
* Brian Soucy – assistant engineer
* Andy Udoff – assistant engineer
* Doug Sax
Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including ''The Wall''; Ray Charles ...
– mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California)
* Frank DeCaro – production assistant
* Lisa Maldonado – production assistant
* Deandra Vallier – production assistant
* Melanie Nissen – art direction
* Richard Bates – design
* Donald May – design
* Glen Earler – photography
References
{{Melissa Manchester
Melissa Manchester albums
1995 albums
Atlantic Records albums