"Shake You Down" is a song by American R&B artist, writer and producer

Gregory Abbott Gregory Joel Abbott (born April 2, 1954) is an American singer, musician, composer and producer. Although he continues to record to date, he is best known for his singles in the mid-1980s including his platinum single, "Shake You Down", from h ...

. It was released in August 1986 as the lead single from his debut album. It became Abbott's biggest hit and was certified 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/o ...

. The track is also featured in the 2007 film ''

Are We Done Yet? ''Are We Done Yet?'' is a 2007 American family comedy film directed by Steve Carr and starring Ice Cube. The film is a remake of the 1948 Cary Grant comedy film '' Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House'', previously remade as the 1986 Tom Hanks ...

Composition

According to ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', the song is about sex.

Music video

Dominic Sena Dominic Sena (born April 26, 1949) is an American film director and music video director. As a film director, he is best known for directing the films ''Kalifornia'' (1993), '' Gone in 60 Seconds'' (2000), and '' Swordfish'' (2001). As a music ...

Propaganda Films Propaganda Films was an American music video and film production company founded in 1986 by producers Steve Golin and Sigurjón Sighvatsson and directors David Fincher, Nigel Dick, Dominic Sena and Greg Gold. By 1990, the company was prod ...

came up with the idea of the scrolling effect on the music video. It is recorded as a single image on a photographic film. There is also another music video recorded in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, especially for the Brazilian TV show ''

Fantástico ''Fantástico'' (originally known as ''Fantástico: O Show da Vida'', Portuguese for ''Fantastic The Show of Life'') is a Brazilian weekly television news program broadcast on Sunday nights on Rede Globo since August 5, 1973, created by José Bo ...

''.

Chart performance

"Shake You Down" was released as the first single from the album also titled ''Shake You Down''. It went to number one on the black singles chart in October 1986, and on January 17, 1987, it reached the top spot on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 3 song for 1987.

Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1987 This is a list of '' Billboard'' magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1987. See also *1987 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1987. Specific locations *1987 in British music * 1987 in Norwegian music ...

It was a hit across the Atlantic Ocean, as well, peaking at number six in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

(spending a total of 13 weeks on that chart from 22 November 1986). It was not intended as the original single to promote the album, as "I Got the Feeling" was scheduled to be the first single. It was postponed as the follow-up, peaking at #56.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

References

External links

* Gregory Abbott at Allmusic {{Authority control 1986 debut singles 1986 songs 1980s ballads Gregory Abbott songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Contemporary R&B ballads Columbia Records singles Music videos directed by Dominic Sena