''Word Up!'' is the 13th studio album by American funk group Cameo, released in 1986. The album reached number 1 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

chart, number 8 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Albums chart, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 1 million copies. It took Cameo to their highest level of popularity, and solidified them as one of the most successful bands of the 1980s. The album includes three of their biggest hit singles, " Word Up!", " Candy", and " Back and Forth".

Track listing

*Tracks 1, 2, 3, 6 & 7 published by All Seeing Eye Music-Better Days Music. *Tracks 4 & 5 published by All Seeing Eye Music-Better Days Music-Better Nights Music.

Personnel

;Cameo *

Larry Blackmon Larry Ernest Blackmon (born May 24, 1956) is an American vocalist and musician who gained acclaim as the lead singer and founder frontman of the funk and R&B band Cameo. Musical career Starting the band "East Coast", Blackmon formed the "N ...

– lead vocals,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

*Tomi Jenkins – lead vocals, backing vocals *Nathan Leftenant – backing vocals ;Other players *Kevin Kendrick - Keyboards *Charlie Singleton –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, backing vocals *Stanley Clarke, Aaron Mills – bass guitar *Michael Burnett – bass guitar, backing vocals *

Bernard Wright Bernard Wright (November 16, 1963 – May 19, 2022) was an American funk and jazz keyboardist and singer who began his career as a session musician and later released four solo albums. Biography Wright was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York. I ...

, Eric Rehl, Kenni Hairston, Kevin Kendrick, Merv de Peyer – keyboards *Duduka Fonseca, Giovanni Hidalgo, Steve Thornton – percussion *Melvin Wells –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, backing vocals *

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...

– tenor saxophone (solo on "Candy", "Don't Be Lonely" and "She's Mine") *

Randy Brecker Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was born on No ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*Arno Hecht –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

*Crispin Cioe – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone *Robert Funk –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

*Paul Litteral – trumpet *Sammy Merendino – drum programming * Pat Buchanan – guitars *Peter Scherer – Synclavier programming *Willie Morris – backing vocals

Critical reception

Accolades

''Word Up!'' was ranked number 5 among the "Albums of the Year" by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Certifications

Singles

*" Word Up" – released July 1986 *" Candy" – released November 1986 *" Back and Forth" – released March 1987 *"She's Mine" - released June 1987

References

Cameo (band) albums 1986 albums {{1980s-R&B-album-stub