''A Time to Love'' is the twenty-third and most recent studio album by Stevie Wonder, his first since '' Conversation Peace'' in 1995. Originally to have been completed in 2004, it was finally released to stores on October 18, 2005, following an exclusive digital release on Apple's iTunes Music Store on September 27. The first single, issued in April 2005, was "

So What the Fuss "So What the Fuss" is a song from Stevie Wonder's 2005 album '' A Time to Love''. The song features En Vogue and Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or fo ...

", which featured

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

on guitar and

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single ...

on backing vocals. Follow-up singles included "Positivity" with his daughter Aisha Morris, "From the Bottom of My Heart" and "Shelter in the Rain". The song "Shelter in the Rain" was in tribute to his first wife, the singer

Syreeta Wright Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights we ...

, who died of cancer the year before this album was released. Wonder was quoted as saying he would have had Wright singing lead on it had she lived.

Reception

The album was received with generally positive reviews, despite its having been delayed several times during the year of its release. In 2005, Wonder won the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in the Grammy Awards for " From the Bottom of My Heart". This was his fourth win in this category. Wonder last won this award 29 years earlier in 1976 for ''

Songs in the Key of Life ''Songs in the Key of Life'' is the eighteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter and musician Stevie Wonder. A double album, it was released on September 28, 1976, by Tamla Records, a division of Motown. It was recorded primarily at Crys ...

''. His other wins in this category were in 1973 ("

You Are the Sunshine of My Life "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is a 1973 single released by Stevie Wonder. The song became Wonder's third number-one single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and his first number-one on the Easy Listening chart. It won Wonder a Grammy Award f ...

") and 1974 ( ''Fulfillingness First Finale'').

Track listing

Personnel

Music

* Thomassina Atkins – choir/chorus * Francis Awe –

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...

* Kimberly Brewer – background vocals * Shirley Brewer – background vocals *

Kim Burrell Kimberly Jean Burrell (born August 27, 1972) is an American, Grammy–nominated, gospel singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor from Houston, Texas, United States. Biography Early life Born Kimberly Jean Burrell on August 27, 1972 in Houston, Te ...

– primary vocals * Teddy Campbell – drums * Mabvuto Carpenter – background vocals * Jherimi Leigh Carter – choir/chorus * Wendell Kelly – trombone *

Oscar Castro-Neves Oscar Castro-Neves (May 15, 1940 - September 27, 2013), was a Brazilian guitarist, arranger, and composer who is considered a founding figure in bossa nova. Biography He was born in Rio de Janeiro as one of triplets and formed a band with his br ...

– guitar * Ayrianna Cerant – choir/chorus * Swapan Chaudhuri –

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

* Gregory Curtis – background vocals * Monique DeBarge – background vocals * DeVere Duckett – background vocals * Nathan East – bass guitar * Kevon Edmonds – background vocals * Lynne Fiddmont – background vocals * Brianna Ford – choir/chorus *

Doug E. Fresh Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...

–

beat box Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

* Patrick Gandy – conductor, orchestration * Richie Gajate Garcia – congas/

hand percussion Hand percussion is a percussion instrument that is held in the hand. They can be made from wood, metal or plastic, bottles stops and are usually shaken, scraped, or tapped with fingers or a stick. It includes all instruments that are not drums o ...

* Tony Gates – choir/chorus * Daronn Gooden – choir/chorus * Timothy Hall – choir/chorus * Kenya Hathaway – background vocals *

India.Arie India Arie Simpson (born October 3, 1975), also known as India Arie (sometimes styled as india.arie), is an American singer and songwriter. She has sold over five million records in the US and ten million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards ...

– composer, primary artist * Herman Jackson – bells, keyboard * Phillip "Taj" Jackson – background vocals * Keith John – background vocals * Accalra Johnson – choir/chorus * Desarae Johnson – choir/chorus * Timothy Jon Johnson – background vocals * Unique Johnson – choir/chorus * Chatoya Jones – choir/chorus * Erica L. King – choir/chorus * Abbos Kosimov – doira * Debra Laws – background vocals *

Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 40 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm- ...

– flute *

Ricky Lawson William Riser III (November 8, 1954 – December 23, 2013), better known as Ricky Lawson, was an American drummer and composer. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he worked extensively as a session musician, collaborating with Stevie Wonder, Mich ...

– drums *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

– acoustic/electric guitar * Melody McCully – background vocals * Brijee McDowell – choir/chorus * Sebastian Mego – choir/chorus, background vocals * Kristie Mingo – background vocals * Aisha Morris – primary artist * Woody Murray –

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 ...

* Traci Nelson – background vocals * Morris O'Connor – guitar * Conesha Owens – background vocals *

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

– electric piano * Mike Phillips – saxophone *

Doc Powell Doc Powell is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was born and raised in Spring Valley, New York. He attended college at University of Charleston. Career He has worked with Wilson Pickett, who chose him to be his musical director. He ha ...

– guitar *

– guitar * Bryan Sledge – choir/chorus * Amir Sofi –

darbouka The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet-s ...

* Lamont Van Hook – background vocals *

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 * Andy Weiner – conductor, orchestration, string arrangements * Willie Wheaton, Jr. – background vocals * Fred White – background vocals * Johneisha White – choir/chorus * Tamiko Whitsett – background vocals * Barbara Wilson – background vocals * Sherman B. Wilson – choir/chorus * LaLynda Winfield – choir/chorus * LaShanea Winfield – choir/chorus * LaShanique Winfield – choir/chorus * Stevie Wonder – arranger, art conception, audio production, bass, bells,

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

chimes Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

clapping A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), ...

, clavinet, composer, drawing,

drum loop In music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Longer sections can also be repeated: for example, a player might loop what they play on an entire verse of a song in order to ...

, drums, editing, Fender Rhodes,

finger cymbals Zills or zils (from Turkish 'cymbals'), also called finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. They are called () in Egypt. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. In Western music, several pa ...

, flexatones, flute arrangement, guitar loops, hand percussion, harmonica, keyboard guitar, keyboards,

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

Moog bass The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer designed and manufactured by Moog Music, originally conceived as a part of the Constellation series of synthesizers. The initial Taurus I was manufactured from 1975 to 1981; a less popular re ...

, organ,

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 ...

, piano, piano (electric), primary artist, producer, programming, rhythm section, sequencing arranger, string arrangements, synthesizer bass,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, vocal arrangement, vocals (background), voice box

Production

* Gary Adante – engineer * Stephanie Andrews – art conception, project coordinator * Robert A. Arbittier – digital editing, editing, overdubs, programming * David Blumberg – arranger * Barry G. Clark – technical support * Jeffrey Coprich – leader * Tom Corwin – engineer, producer * Scott Elgin – assistant * Aaron Fessel – engineer * Ernie Fields Jr. – contractor *

Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American songwriter, choir director, gospel singer, and rapper. He is best known for leading urban contemporary gospel ensembles such as The Family, God's Property, and One Nation Crew (1NC) ...

– arranger, producer *

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

– mastering * Evren Göknar – assistant * John Holino – technical support * Femi Jiya – engineer, mixing * Steve Jones – programming * Jim Keller – assistant * Chris Kornmann – creative director * Nick Marshall – assistant *

Rickey Minor Rickey Minor is an American bass player, music director, composer and music producer. He was the musical director and bandleader on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' from 2010 to 2014, taking over after Kevin Eubanks left. Minor worked as mus ...

– orchestra supervision, string arrangements * Bobby Montez – assistant * Scott Moore – assistant * Francesco Perlangeli – assistant * Neil Pogue – mixing * Joel Poinsett – assistant * Josean Posey – engineer * Bonnie Raitt – producer * Dave Reitzas – engineer *

Paul Riser Paul Riser (born September 11, 1943) is an American trombonist and Motown musical arranger who was responsible for co-writing and arranging dozens of top ten hit records. His legacy as one of the " Funk Brothers" is similar to that of most of ...

– arranger * Anthony Ruotolo – engineer * Rafa Sardina – engineer * Christine Sirois – assistant * Ralph Sutton – engineer * Heratch Touresian – programming * Gregory Upshaw – wardrobe * Peter Vargo – assistant * Donnie Whittmore – assistant * Val Williams – make-up * Eddie Wolfl – photography

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

Stevie Wonder interview with ''Newsweek'', in which he discusses the album
{{DEFAULTSORT:Time to Love 2005 albums Albums produced by Stevie Wonder Motown albums Stevie Wonder albums