''Motown Two'' is the seventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American singer-songwriter Michael McDonald. The album was released on October 26, 2004, by

Universal Music International Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

and

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

Track listing

Personnel

* Michael McDonald – lead and backing vocals, acoustic piano, arrangements * Toby Baker – keyboards, programming, arrangements *

Tim Carmon Tim Carmon is an American keyboard player. He was born a preacher's son in Washington, D.C. Carmon grew up immersed in the church. He began playing piano in the fourth grade and by the age of 12 was organist for three different churches, including ...

– acoustic piano,

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...

, synthesizers,

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

* Tony Swain –

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 ...

, synthesizers *

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

Simon Climie Simon Climie (born 7 April 1957) is an English songwriter/producer and the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher. Biography Climie was born in London. Beginning his career primarily as a songwriter/session musician, Climie found him ...

– arrangements, programming, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals *

Bernie Chiaravalle Bernie Chiaravalle (born August 11, 1953) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is known for backing up Michael McDonald. Career Chiaravalle was born in Port Hueneme, California. He studied piano as a child and still plays it. Ac ...

–

nylon guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor ...

* Michael Thompson – guitar *

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López Sr. (born July 17, 1947) is a Mexican-American bassist who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. ''Guitar Player'' magazine called him "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the f ...

– bass, acoustic guitar *

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 *

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 *

Abe Laboriel Jr. Abraham Laboriel Jr. (born March 23, 1971) is an American session drummer. He is the son of Mexican bass guitarist Abraham Laboriel, nephew of Mexican rocker Johnny Laboriel, and brother of record producer, songwriter, and film composer Mateo ...

– drums * Nicky Shaw – drums, percussion, programming, beats, arrangements *

Lenny Castro Lenny or Lennie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lenny (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lennie (surname), a list of people * Lenny (singer) (born 1993), Czech songwriter Arts and entertainment Music * ''L ...

– percussion *

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 ...

–

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 ...

(2) * Fred Vigdor – alto saxophone *

Nick Ingman Nicholas Ingman (born 29 April 1948) is an English arranger, composer and conductor in the commercial music field. His collaborators include Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Björk, and the British X-factor. Born and educated in London, Ingman moved ...

– string arrangements *

Gavyn Wright Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He is best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions (including Elton John, Simply Red, Bush, Mecano, Oasis, ...

– orchestra leader * Isobel Griffiths – orchestra contractor *

The London Session Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

– strings *

Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. ...

– lead and backing vocals (4) *

Tamar Braxton Tamar Estine Braxton (born March 17, 1977) is an American singer and television personality. Braxton began her career in 1990 as a founding member of The Braxtons, an R&B singing group formed with her sisters. The Braxtons released their debut a ...

– backing vocals * Kendra Carr – backing vocals * Steve Crawford – backing vocals *

Darwin Hobbs Darwin Todd Hobbs (born November 30, 1968) is an American gospel music singer noted for his vocal similarity to classic soul singers Luther Vandross, Freddie Jackson and Lou Rawls. In addition to his career as a gospel artist, Hobbs and his ensem ...

– backing vocals * Mitchell John – backing vocals * Lawrence Johnson – backing vocals * Sherie Kibble – backing vocals * Jay Malcomb – backing vocals * Audrey Martells – backing vocals * Kimberly Mont – backing vocals * Racheal Oteh – backing vocals * Shandra Penix – backing vocals * Yvette Preyer – backing vocals * Tiffany Ransom – backing vocals * Drea Rheneé – backing vocals * Kevin Whalum – backing vocals * Sharon White – backing vocals

Production

* Producer –

* Executive Producer – Tony Swain * Production Coordinator – Lisa Patton and Debbie Johnson * Engineers – Simon Climie, Alan Douglas,

Shannon Forrest Shannon Forrest (born August 22, 1973 in Easley, South Carolina) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. As a session drummer, he has contributed to the work of many well-known artists, and he is also a pr ...

, Don Murray, Allen Sides and Grady Walker. * Assistant Engineers – Greg Burns, Tim Olmstead and Brian Vibbert. * ProTools Engineering – Simon Climie, Joel Everden and Jonathan Shakovskoy. * Mixed by

Mick Guzauski Nathan "Mick" Guzauski is an American multi-platinum mixing engineer and sound engineer. His work spans a wide range of styles, including jazz, R&B, Latin, rock, pop, easy listening, funk and hip hop. He won a 2002 Latin Grammy for Thalía's ...

at Barking Doctor Recording (Mount Kisco, NY), assisted by Tom Bender. * Mastered by

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

at Gateway Mastering (Portland, ME). * Album Coordinator – Dee Harrington

Charts

References

2004 albums Michael McDonald (musician) albums Motown cover albums {{2000s-R&B-album-stub