''Ready to Roll'' is the eighth album by
Thelma Houston
Thelma Houston ( Jackson; born May 7, 1946) Retrieved . is an American singer. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit record in 1977 with her recording of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy ...
, released in 1978 on
Motown Records
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...
.
It was a modest success, peaking only at #74 in the US R&B charts. The single "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" gained momentum in 1979 and was included in a remixed version on Houston's ''Ride to the Rainbow'' album in 1979.
The album was released on CD in 2018 by Soulmusic Records, in a compilation that also includes ''
The Devil in Me'', ''Ride to the Rainbow'' and ''
Reachin' All Around
''Reachin' All Around'' is the twelfth album by Thelma Houston released in 1982. The album consists of previously unreleased material recorded while at Motown Records. While the album did not become a major seller, it is well liked by her fans. Th ...
''.
Track listing
# "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" (Mitchell Botler, Norma Helms)
# "Love Is Comin' On" (Greg Wright, Karin Patterson, Ronnie Vann)
# "I Wanna Start My Life All Over Again" (Sandra Crouch, Sharon Anton)
# "Midnight Mona" (Greg Wright, Kain Patterson, Ronnie Vann)
# "Pardon Me" (Alfred McCrary, Sundray Tucker)
# "Everybody's Got a Story" (Sandra Crouch, Sharon Anton)
# "Strange" (Greg Wright, Karin Patterson, Olivia Foster)
# "Am I Expecting Too Much" (Curtis Anthony Nolen, Dana Meyers, Maureen Bailey, Raymond Crossley)
# "Can't We Try" (Ken Hirsch,
Ronald Miller)
Personnel
* Thelma Houston - lead vocals
* Rock Deadrick - percussion
*
James Gadson
James Gadson ( James Edward Gadson; born June 17, 1939) is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B. He is also a singer and ...
- drums
* Greg Wright - keyboards, backing vocals
*
Ray Parker Jr.
Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film '' Ghostbusters''. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-10 h ...
- guitar
*
Greg Phillinganes
Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...
- keyboards
* Eddie N. Watkins Jr. - bass guitar
* Gary Coleman - percussion
*
Sonny Burke
Joseph Francis "Sonny" Burke (March 22, 1914 – May 31, 1980) was an American musical arranger, composer, Big Band leader and producer. In 1937, he graduated from Duke University, where he had formed and led the jazz big band known as the Duke ...
- keyboards
*
Roland Bautista
Roland Bautista (May 30, 1951 – February 29, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Bautista was best known for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire. He also worked with such artists as Ronnie Laws, The Crusaders, George Duke and ...
- guitar
* Robert Lee Hill - bass guitar
*
Gene Estes
The Wrecking Crew was a loose collective of Los Angeles-based session musicians whose services were employed for a great number of studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly rec ...
- vibraphone
* Alan Estes - percussion
* Alan Oldfield - keyboards
*
Wah Wah Watson
Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as "Wah Wah Watson", was an American guitarist who was a member of The Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records.
Career
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Melvi ...
- guitar
*
Eddie "Bongo" Brown
Eddie "Bongo" Brown (September 13, 1932 – December 28, 1984) was an American musician born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. Brown played congas, Bongo drum, bongos, the gourd and claves for Motown Records' in-house ...
- percussion
* John Barnes - keyboards
* Tony Newton - bass guitar
* Ronnie Vann - guitar
*
Clarence McDonald
Clarence "Mac" McDonald (1944 or 1945 – July 21, 2021) was a Los Angeles-based American pianist, composer, arranger, and producer. McDonald was known for his musical diversity, enduring melodies and signature groove. His most famous composition ...
- keyboards
* Ivory Davis - backing vocals
* Maxi Anderson - backing vocals
* Julia Tillman Waters - backing vocals
* Maxine Waters - backing vocals
* Oren Waters - backing vocals
* Roger St. Kenerly - backing vocals
* Pattie Brooks - backing vocals
* Platypus - backing vocals
* Olivia Foster - backing vocals
* Karin Patterson - backing vocals
* Stephanie Spruill - backing vocals
*
Venetta Fields
Venetta Lee Fields (born 1941) is an American-born singer, musical theater actress and vocal coach. She was a backing vocalist for American and British rock and pop acts of the 1960s and 1970s, including Ike & Tina Turner, Pink Floyd, Humble ...
- backing vocals
* Dorothy Sheffield - backing vocals
*
Arthur G. Wright, David Blumberg,
Jimmie Haskell
Jimmie Haskell (born Sheridan Pearlman, November 7, 1926 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer and arranger for motion pictures and a wide variety of popular artists, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steely Da ...
- string and horn arrangements
References
{{Authority control
1978 albums
Thelma Houston albums
Albums arranged by Jimmie Haskell
Albums produced by Hal Davis
Motown albums