''Set the Night to Music'' is an

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 ...

released by

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the Billboard Magazine, ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", "Feel Like M ...

in 1991 on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. The title track, written by

Diane Warren Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has received several awards including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ''Billboard'' Music Awards and an Honorary Academy Award. Wa ...

and originally the 11th track of

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 188 ...

's 1987 album '' No Protection'', was remade as a duet with

Maxi Priest Max Alfred "Maxi" Elliott (born 10 June 1961), known by his stage name Maxi Priest, is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with an R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion. He was one ...

and reached number 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 2 on the

Hot Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

chart. In Canada, "Set the Night to Music" peaked at number nine on the pop singles chart and number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. It became the 17th biggest Canadian Adult Contemporary hit of 1991.

Track listing

#"The Waiting Game" (Claude Gaudette, Alan Roy Scott) - 4:38 #*Rap performed by

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

#" Set the Night to Music" (

) - 5:23 #*Duet with

#"When Someone Tears Your Heart In Two" (

Bob Gaudio Robert John Gaudio (born November 17, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer, and the keyboardist and backing vocalist of the pop/rock band the Four Seasons. Gaudio wrote or co-wrote and produced the vast majori ...

Madeline Stone Madeline Stone is an American songwriter. Stone, who is Jewish, lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and specializes in Inspirational music. Stone was born in Brooklyn, and reared on Long Island. She is a graduate of Syracuse University i ...

) - 4:04 #"Something Your Heart Has Been Telling Me" (

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

Robert Kraft Robert Kenneth Kraft (born June 5, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, ...

Barry Reynolds Barry Reynolds (born 27 October 1949, in Bolton, Lancashire) is a British guitar player, songwriter, composer and producer, best known for his long-lasting collaboration with Marianne Faithfull. Reynolds first emerged with the band Pacific Drift ...

) - 4:56 #"

You Make Me Feel Brand New "You Make Me Feel Brand New" is a 1974 single by the Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics. An R&B ballad, the song was written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed. Background Stylistics tenor Airrion Love starts out the song and then alternates with ...

" ( Thomas Bell,

Linda Creed Linda Diane Creed (December 6, 1948 – April 10, 1986), also known by her married name Linda Epstein, was an American songwriter and lyricist who teamed up with Thom Bell to produce some of the most successful Philadelphia soul groups of the 19 ...

) - 4:58 #"

Unforgettable Unforgettable may refer to: Film * ''Unforgettable'' (1996 film), a thriller starring Ray Liotta * ''Unforgettable'' (2014 film), a Bollywood film * ''Unforgettable'' (2016 film), a South Korean film * ''Unforgettable'' (2017 film), an America ...

" (

Irving Gordon Irving Gordon (February 14, 1915 – December 1, 1996) was an American songwriter. Biography Irving Gordon was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family, and later lived on Coney Island. He was named Israel Goldener but later changed his na ...

; Intro written by

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

) - 5:30 #*Duet with Mark Stevens #"Summertime" ( Sharon Robinson,

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

) - 4:22 #"Natural Thing" (Jerry Barnes, Katreese Barnes) - 4:41 #"My Foolish Heart" (

Ned Washington Ned Washington (born Edward Michael Washington, August 15, 1901 – December 20, 1976) was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Life and career Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962. He won the Bes ...

Victor Young Albert Victor Young (August 8, 1899– November 10, 1956)"Victor Young, Composer, Dies of Heart Attack", ''Oakland Tribune'', November 12, 1956. was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. Biography Young is commonly said to ...

) - 4:39 #"Friend" (Jerry Barnes, Katreese Barnes) - 3:00 #"

Always Always may refer to: Film and television * ''Always'', a 1985 film directed by Henry Jaglom * ''Always'' (1989 film), a 1989 romantic comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg * ''Always'' (2011 film), a 2011 South Korean film, also known as '' ...

" (Irving Berlin; Closing verse written by Roberta Flack and

Barry Miles Barry Miles (born 21 February 1943) is an English author known for his participation in and writing on the subjects of the 1960s London underground and counterculture. He is the author of numerous books and his work has also regularly appeared ...

) - 4:35

Personnel

* Roberta Flack – lead vocals, main backing vocals (1), arrangements (11) * Steve Skinner – keyboards (1, 4), programming (1, 4), arrangements (1, 4), additional keyboards (8), drum programming (8) * John Mahoney – Synclavier programming (1) *

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, 4, 10, 11), additional programming (1, 4), keyboards (3, 7, 9), programming (3, 7, 9, 10), synth bass (3, 9), arrangements (3, 7, 10), string arrangements and conductor (7), keyboard solo (10), drum programming (11) *

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 (2, 6, 11), programming (2, 6, 11), arrangements (2), additional arrangements (11) *

Robbie Buchanan Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob or Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003. People Given name Robbie *Robbie Amell (born 1 ...

– acoustic piano (3) * David LeBolt – keyboards (5), programming (5), arrangements (5) * Reggie Griffin – keyboards (8), programming (8), drum programming (8), backing vocals (8, 9), arrangements (8) * Keith Barnhart – additional keyboards (9), additional programming (9) *

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 ...

– main keyboards (9), keyboards (10) * Michael O'Reilly – guitar (4) * Sammy Merendino – drum programming (1, 2) * Errol "Crusher" Bennett – percussion (2) * Andy Snitzer – alto saxophone (4), tenor saxophone (6, 9) *

Rob Paparozzi Robert Steven "Rob" Paparozzi (born October 14, 1952) is an American Grammy-nominated harmonica player and vocalist from New Jersey. In the early 1970s, Paparozzi fronted the Psychotic Blues Band, a blues rock group which played extensively in t ...

– harmonica (6) *

– arrangements (1, 4, 6, 8, 9), string arrangements and conductor (2, 6, 9), vocal arrangements (8, 9) * Shelton Becton – additional arrangements (8) *

– additional arrangements (11) *

Gene Orloff Gene Orloff (June 14, 1921 – March 23, 2009) was an American violinist, concertmaster, arranger, contractor and session musician. Background The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from th ...

– concertmaster (2, 6, 7, 9) * Jerry Barnes – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10), vocal arrangements (8), arrangements (10), bass (10) * Katreese Barnes – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10), soprano saxophone (4), alto saxophone (8), vocal arrangements (8) *

– rap (1) *

– lead vocals (2) * Mark Stevens – backing vocals (3, 5, 8), lead vocals (6) *

Tawatha Agee Tawatha Agee (born November 14, 1954) is an American backing vocalist and songwriter. Her voice has been described in ''The New York Times'' as an "acrobatic, gospel-charged soprano." She was the lead singer of funk and soul band Mtume; her soulf ...

– backing vocals (4, 5, 7) * Rachele Cappelli – backing vocals (4, 5, 6, 9) *

Fonzi Thornton Alfonso "Fonzi" Thornton is a U.S. songwriter/producer and vocal contractor. In a career spanning 40 years, Thornton has sung backing vocals for top artists across many genres of music. His vocal credits can be found on the recordings of Aret ...

– backing vocals (4, 5) *

Patti Austin Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter. Music career Austin was born in Harlem, New York, to Gordon Austin, a jazz trombonist. She was raised in Bay Shore, New York on Long Island. Quincy ...

– backing vocals (6) * Lani Groves – backing vocals (6, 7) * Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals (9)

Production

* Arif Mardin – producer * Joe Mardin – co-producer (3, 7) * Michael O'Reilly – recording, mixing *

Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, A&R executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Doubt, Klaxo ...

– additional recording * David Richards – additional recording * Bruce Buchanan – assistant engineer * Bruce Calder – assistant engineer * Steven Deur – assistant engineer * Suzanne Dyer – assistant engineer * Steve Holroyd – assistant engineer * Jeff Lippay – assistant engineer * Brian Pollack – assistant engineer * Ken Quartarone – assistant engineer * Jay Ryan – assistant engineer * David Schiffman – assistant engineer * Arthur Steuer – assistant engineer *

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...

– mastering * Suzane Koga – production coordination * Lisa Maldonado – production coordination * Bob Defrin – art direction * Thomas Bricker – design * Bridgette Lancome – photography ;Studios * Recorded at

Atlantic Studios Atlantic Studios was the recording studio of Atlantic Records. Although this recording studio was located at 1841 Broadway (at the corner of 60th Street), in New York City, Atlantic Recording Studios was initially located at 234 West 56th Street ...

Unique Recording Studios Unique Recording Studios was a five-room recording studio operating near Times Square in New York City from 1978 until 2004. Founders and co-owners Bobby Nathan and Joanne Georgio-Nathan installed the first Otari 24-track tape deck in New York. ...

The Hit Factory The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. History On March 6, 1975, Edward Germano, a singer, record producer, and one of the principal owners of the Record Plant Studios New York, purchased the ...

, RPM Studios, Soundtrack Studios and Skyline Studios (New York City, New York);

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 ...

(Hollywood, California). * Mixed at

Right Track Recording Sound on Sound Studios, formerly known as MSR Studios (Manhattan Sound Recordings) is a photography and movie producing company recording facility in Montclair, New Jersey. Its forebear, MSR Studios, was located in Manhattan, just outside Times Squ ...

(New York City, New York). * Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York).

References

{{Authority control Roberta Flack albums 1991 albums Albums produced by Ahmet Ertegun Albums produced by Arif Mardin Atlantic Records albums