"Yah Mo B There" is a

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhy ...

song, recorded as a duet by American singers

James Ingram James Edward Ingram (February 16, 1952 – January 29, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a two-time Academy Award nominee for Best Original Song. After beginning his career ...

and Michael McDonald. It was written by Ingram, McDonald,

Rod Temperton Rodney Lynn Temperton (9 October 1949 – 25 September 2016) was an English songwriter, producer and musician. Temperton was the keyboardist and main songwriter for the 1970s pop music, disco and funk band Heatwave, writing songs including " ...

and producer

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 ...

. The song originally appeared on Ingram's 1983 album, '' It's Your Night'', via Jones's

Qwest Records Qwest Records is the American record label started by Quincy Jones in 1980 as a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records, and owned by Warner Music Group, although Jones was still under contract with A&M Records through 1981. George Benson's 198 ...

label. It was released as a single in late 1983, peaking in 1984 at No. 19 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart and No. 44 on 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 ...

. A remixed version by

John Benitez John Benitez (born November 7, 1957), also known as Jellybean, is an American musician, songwriter, DJ, remixer, and music producer. He has produced and remixed artists such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and the Pointer Sisters ...

reached No. 12 in the UK, during the spring of 1985. It has subsequently appeared on several of Ingram's and McDonald's

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

s, as well as various 1980s compilation albums. The performance earned the duo a 1985 Grammy Award for

Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals The 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 ma ...

. It was one of a series of very successful duets involving Ingram. It also received a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Song, losing to " I Feel for You" by Chaka Khan.

Personnel

– vocals, synthesizer * Michael McDonald – vocals, synthesizer * John "J.R." Robinson – drums * Paulinho Da Costa – percussion *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthe ...

– synthesizer *

– synthesizer

Charts

Cover versions

In 1988, R&B singer Jon Gibson

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

"Yah Mo B There" on his '' Change of Heart'' album, released via

Frontline Records Frontline Records was a Christian rock record label, founded in 1986 by James Kempner in Santa Ana, California. The label focused primarily on modern rock, rap, dance-pop and hip-hop. The label closed in the early 1990s, and then resurfaced in 2 ...

. The pop record featured the emerging

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

artist

MC Hammer Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), better known by his stage name MC Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American rapper, dancer, record producer and entrepreneur. He is known for hit songs such as " U Can't Touch This", "2 Legit 2 Quit" ...

. In 1996, "Yah Mo B There" was covered by Louise Seville, and released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In 2005, British singer

Steve Brookstein Stephen Desmond "Steve" Brookstein''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 10 November 1968) is an English singer, who is best known for winning the first series of ''The X Factor'' in 2004.< ...

covered a slightly re-written version of the song with BeBe Winans, for his '' Heart and Soul'' album. In 2017, Melbourne based electronic artist Paradise Box covered the song for his 'Hookup" EP on UK label Crimes Of The Future. ( https://www.discogs.com/release/10968603-Paradise-Box-Hookup-EP) In 2021, American rock band

Electric Six Electric Six is a six-piece American rock band formed in 1996 in Detroit, Michigan. Their music was described by AllMusic as a combination of garage, disco, punk rock, new wave, and metal. The band achieved recognition in 2003 with the sin ...

covered the song for their ''Streets of Gold'' album.

In popular culture

The song was referred to in the 2005 film ''

The 40-Year-Old Virgin ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Judd Apatow, who produced the film with Clayton Townsend and Shauna Robertson. It features Steve Carell as the titular 40-year-old virgin Andy, an employee at an e ...

''. The main characters work in an electronics store in which a Michael McDonald

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

has constantly been playing on the TVs for two years. A salesman, David (played by

Paul Rudd Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame i ...

), has developed an intense hatred of the DVD and tells the manager, "Nothing against him ichael McDonald but if I hear 'Yah Mo B There' one more time, I'm gonna 'yah mo' burn this place to the ground!" In the comedy

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

, ''

Yacht Rock Yacht rock (originally known as the West Coast soundThat ' ...

'', Ingram and McDonald write "Yah Mo" after mishearing

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His ...

say "Yeah, I'll be there" while eating an apple, and talking on a

cordless telephone A cordless telephone or portable telephone has a portable telephone handset that connects by radio to a base station connected to the public telephone network. The operational range is limited, usually to the same building or within some short ...

. In the animated TV series '' American Dad!'', the song was used in the episode "

Home Wrecker "Home Wrecker" is the seventeenth episode of the seventh season ''American Dad!''. It aired on Fox in the United States on May 8, 2011. This episode mainly centers around the couple of Stan and Francine, whom become divided over the architect ...

" as a favorite of Principal Lewis, and sung by Steve and his friends.

References

{{Authority control 1983 songs 1983 singles 1980s ballads James Ingram songs Michael McDonald (musician) songs Songs written by Michael McDonald (musician) Songs written by Quincy Jones Songs written by Rod Temperton Songs written by James Ingram Song recordings produced by Quincy Jones Male vocal duets Qwest Records singles Warner Records singles