''When a Woman Loves'' is the fourteenth studio album released by American singer

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

. Her sixth ever on the

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

label, it was released on October 24, 2000 in the United States.

Background

By 2000, Patti LaBelle had achieved solo success with at least one

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

album and four

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

albums. Four of the certified successes were with

, a company she had been an artist with since 1985. With the guidance of the label and with her husband, Armstead Edwards, LaBelle had finally achieved the solo success that had mostly eluded her since leaving the flashy pop group, Labelle, in 1976. It had been three years since her last album, the platinum-certified ''

Flame A flame (from Latin ''flamma'') is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction taking place in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density they ...

'', which yielded the modestly popular hit, "

When You Talk About Love "When You Talk About Love" is a song recorded by American singer and actress Patti LaBelle. It was written by Ann Nesby, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, James Harris III, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Terry Lewis, and James "Big Jim" Wright for her thirt ...

". After winning a second

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for her live album, ''Live! One Night Only'', LaBelle laid low. The marriage of LaBelle and Edwards seemed to be solid but in early 2000, the couple made news by announcing a

trial separation Marital separation occurs when spouses in a marriage stop living together without getting divorced. Married couples may separate as an initial step in the divorce process or to gain perspective on the marriage and determine whether divorce is warra ...

after 31 years of marriage. The news shocked fans of the singer, who had told the media that the couple's relationship was built on their opposite differences. Following news of the separation, LaBelle returned to the

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

to work on her next studio album for MCA Records. Noting the modest success they had with LaBelle's original 1989 version of "

If You Asked Me To "If You Asked Me To" is a song written by American songwriter Diane Warren. It was originally recorded by American singer Patti LaBelle for her ninth studio album ''Be Yourself (Patti LaBelle album), Be Yourself'' (1989), and also for the soundtra ...

", LaBelle and the song's writer,

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 ...

agreed to work together on LaBelle's new album.

Recording

''When A Woman Loves'' featured production from not only Warren and friend Denise Rich, who co-wrote several tracks, but also longtime producers

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III (born June 6, 1959) and Terry Steven Lewis (born November 24, 1956) are an American R&B/pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most ...

, producers of LaBelle's last two hits, "

The Right Kinda Lover "The Right Kinda Lover" is a song by American singer and actress Patti LaBelle. It was written by Ann Bennett-Nesby, James Harris III, Terry Lewis, and James "Big Jim" Wright, while production was helmed by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, with Wrig ...

" and "When You Talk About Love". Upon its release, when critics heard the new tracks, they thought that LaBelle's impending divorce from her husband Edwards was the cause of the sound from the tracks and from the singer's voice, though LaBelle would later deny such stories. Because Edwards had also served as LaBelle's manager for nearly 30 years, Edwards also left his position as manager leaving that position to the couple's son Zuri.

Commercial reception

Upon its release, ''When a Woman Loves'' tanked on the pop and R&B charts after its release in October 2000. The album's sole single, "Call Me Gone", failed to chart and was given poor radio airplay. Though the title track did get airplay and LaBelle sometimes sung the song during the record's promotion, it was never released as a single and the album dropped out of the charts after only ten weeks, becoming the first LaBelle studio album since '' This Christmas'', to not be certified.

Track listing

All tracks written by

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2000 albums Patti LaBelle albums Albums produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis MCA Records albums