''Song Bird'' is the second studio album by American singer

Deniece Williams Deniece Williams (born June Deniece Chandler; June 3, 1951) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs " Free", " Silly", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and two ''Bil ...

, released on October 28, 1977, by Columbia Records. The album rose to No. 23 on the US Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and No. 5 on the UK

Blues & Soul ''Blues & Soul'' is a British music magazine, established in 1967 by John Abbey. ''The Independent'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as '' NME'' and '' Q''. ''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a ...

Top British Soul Albums chart.

Overview

''Song Bird'' was produced by Maurice White.

Critical reception

With a four out of five rating Simon Gage of

The Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

described Song Bird as being "filled with gorgeous songs that showcase her four-octave range to full effect".

John Rockwell John Sargent Rockwell (born September 16, 1940) is an American music critic, dance critic and arts administrator. According to '' Grove Music Online'', "Rockwell brings two signal attributes to his critical work: a genuine admiration for all ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

stated "Deniece Williams's “Song Bird” is a most appealing album for anyone who likes varied, skillful and sophisticated singing in the black pop area." He also added "One can't be more stylistically precise than that because it is a characteristic of Maurice White's production and Miss Williams's virtuousically diverse singing that her disk ambles all over the stylistic map. But instead of sounding diffuse, it sounds refreshingly varied." Phyl Garland of

Stereo Review ''Sound & Vision'' is an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review''. ...

commented "Here she is fitted out with material that is even better than that on her fine first album. Producer Maurice White poured all of the proper stuff into this one; the arrangements are imaginative, and several name musicians supply smooth, unobtrusive instrumental backing. Ms. Williams is also a songwriter of notable talent, for she helped write some of the best tunes here."

Singles

Baby, Baby My Love's All for You "Baby, Baby My Love's All for You" is a song by Deniece Williams, released as a single in October 1977 by Columbia Records. The song reached No. 13 on the US '' Billboard'' Hot Soul Songs chart, No. 5 on the UK Blues & Soul Top British Soul Sin ...

" rose to No. 13 upon the US Billboard

Hot R&B Songs Hot R&B Songs is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular R&B songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stations, digital download sales and streaming data. It was establis ...

and No. 32 on the UK Pop singles chart.

Samples and Covers

"We Have Love for You" was sampled on the track "Remember Them Days" by Beanie Sigel featuring

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

off Sigel's 2000 album ''

The Truth The Truth may refer to: Film * ''The Truth'' (1920 film) starring Madge Kennedy * ''The Truth'' (1960 film) or ''La Vérité'', a French film by Henri-Georges Clouzot starring Brigitte Bardot * ''The Truth'' (1988 film), a Hong Kong trial crim ...

''. Williams also covered

Ferlin Husky Ferlin Eugene Husky (December 3, 1925 – March 17, 2011) was an early American country music singer who was equally adept at the genres of traditional honky-tonk, ballads, spoken recitations, and rockabilly pop tunes. He had two dozen top-20 hit ...

's ''Time'' upon the album

Appearances in other media

Williams went on to perform the album cut "God Is Amazing" at the 1984 Grammy Awards.

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals, backing vocals * Sidney Barnes – backing vocals *

Jerry Peters Jerry Peters is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, conductor and arranger. He is best known for writing the hit songs "Love Or Let Me Be Lonely" and "Going In Circles" by The Friends of Distinction. Career Peters w ...

– pianos *

Larry Dunn Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment * Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone ...

– synthesizers *

Charles Fearing Raydio is an American funk and R&B vocal group formed in 1977 by Ray Parker Jr., with Vincent Bonham, Jerry Knight, and Arnell Carmichael. Career 1970s and Raydio After securing a record deal, the group scored their first big hit in early 197 ...

– guitars * Marlo Henderson – guitars *

Al McKay AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

– guitars * John Rowin Jr. – guitars *

Nathan Watts Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...

– bass *

Verdine White Verdine Adams White (born July 25, 1951) is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist for the band Earth, Wind & Fire. White was placed at No. 19 on Rolling Stone's list of The 50 Greatest Bassists of All Time. Early l ...

– bass * David Garibaldi – drums * Fred White – drums * Maurice White – drums, backing vocals * Paulinho da Costa – percussion *

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

–

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...

* Azar Lawrence – saxophones *

Don Myrick Donald Myrick (April 6, 1940 – July 30, 1993) was an American saxophonist. A member of The Phenix Horns, he is best known for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire and Phil Collins. He played alto, tenor, and soprano sax as a member of Earth, Wind ...

– saxophones, sax solo (6, 8) * George Patterson – saxophones * Andrew Woolfolk – saxophones *

George Bohanon George Roland Bohanon, Jr. (born August 7, 1937) is a jazz trombonist and session musician from Detroit, Michigan. In the early 1960s, he participated in Detroit's Workshop Jazz ensemble, with Johnny Griffith, Paula Greer, David Hamilton, Lefty ...

– trombone * Charles Loper – trombone *

Louis Satterfield Louis Edward Satterfield (April 3, 1937 – September 27, 2004) was an American bassist and trombonist. Satterfield was a member of both The Pharaohs and the Phenix Horns. He also collaborated with prominent artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, ...

– trombone * Oscar Brashear – trumpet * Chuck Findley – trumpet * Michael Harris – trumpet, trumpet solo (8) * Steve Madaio – trumpet * Tom Tom 84 (Tom Washington) – string and horn arrangements

Production

* Producer – Maurice White * Co-Producer – Jerry Peters * Engineer – Warren Dewey * Assistant Engineer – Jack Rouben * Design – Nancy Donald * Photography – Kenneth McGowan * Management – Cavallo-Ruffalo Management

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1977 albums Deniece Williams albums Albums produced by Maurice White Albums produced by Jerry Peters Columbia Records albums