Rhythm of Love is the fifth album by American R&B/soul singer

Anita Baker Anita Denise Baker (born January 26, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. She is one of the most popular singers of soulful ballads, especially renowned for her work during the height of the quiet storm period in the 1980s. Starting her career ...

, released in 1994. The album peaked at #3 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 and #1 on the ''Billboard'' Top R&B/Hip Hop chart and was certified double platinum, giving Baker her fourth platinum selling album. This is the first album since 1983's '' The Songstress'' by Baker not to be produced by longtime collaborator Michael J. Powell, who had agreed to split the arrangement after the release of Baker's 1990 album, '' Compositions''. The album's first single, " Body and Soul", gave Baker her first top 40 hit since 1989. " You Belong to Me" is a cover of the Carly Simon classic, not to be confused with the song of the same title that Baker recorded for her 1988 album '' Giving You the Best That I Got''. Baker also received a Grammy Award in 1995 for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for " I Apologize". "Body and Soul" was nominated for 1995 Grammy Awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song, and ''Rhythm of Love'' was nominated for Best R&B Album. ''Rhythm of Love'' is Baker's last album for Elektra Records. Because of dissatisfaction with the album's promotion, Baker filed a lawsuit against Elektra, requesting a transfer to another label within

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. Finally she signed with Atlantic Records in September 1996.

Track listing

# "Rhythm of Love" (

, Patrick Moten) - 5:50 # " The Look of Love" ( Burt Bacharach,

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

) - 4:47 # " Body and Soul" (

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists Ellen Shipley Ellen Shipley (born March 24, 1949 in New York City, New York, United States) is an American musician and songwriter. Career At sixteen years old, Shipley got a NYC Cabaret license. She performed a duo act in Greenwich Village in the early 70's ...

) - 5:42 # "Baby" (Baker) - 4:25 # " I Apologize" (Baker, Barry J. Eastmond,

Gordon Chambers Gordon Anthony Chambers (c. 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer who has written songs for more than 75 recording artists including Angie Stone, Yolanda Adams, The Isley Brothers, Brandy, Trey Songz, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBel ...

) - 5:09 # "Plenty of Room" (Baker) - 4:57 # "It's Been You" (Sami McKinney, Michael O'Hara, Mary Unobsky) - 4:59 # " You Belong to Me" ( Carly Simon, Michael McDonald) - 4:41 # "Wrong Man" (Baker) - 5:51 # "Only for a While" (Dawn Thomas) - 5:16 # "Sometimes I Wonder Why" ( Mike Reid,

Mack David Mack David (July 5, 1912 – December 30, 1993) was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning the period between the early 1940s and the early 1970s. David was credited with writing ...

) - 4:37 # " My Funny Valentine" ( Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) - 5:06

Personnel

* Anita Baker – lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 3, 4, 6-10), acoustic piano intro (1), synth percussion (1), arrangements (1-4, 6, 7, 9, 11), vocal arrangements (2, 5, 12), BGV arrangements (8) * Michael Bradford – acoustic piano intro (1), synthesizer programming (1) * Barry J. Eastmond – acoustic piano (1, 3, 4, 5, 7),

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

(1, 3), synth bass (1), strings (1, 3), string arrangements (3), keyboards (5, 6), drum programming (5), arrangements (5, 7), synthesizers (7), synth solo (9), string pads (9) * George Duke – additional percussion (1), percussion (3, 4, 6, 12), synth strings (6),

electronic drums Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sounds ...

(6), Synclavier programming (woodwinds, bass, drums) (12), acoustic piano (12), Yamaha TX816 Rhodes (12), synth solo (12), arrangements (12) *

Joe Mardin Joe Mardin (born Yusuf Mardin) is a Turkish-American music producer, arranger and engineer from New York City. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate and is the son of the Turkish American producer Arif Mardin. Joe Mardin is also a conductor, ...

– keyboards (2, 10), programming (2, 10), arrangements (2, 10, 11), cymbals (8), hi-hats (8), drums (11), strings and woodwinds (11) *

Joe Sample Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939 – September 12, 2014) was an American keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, the band which shortened its name to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained ...

– acoustic piano (2, 11) * Eddie Howard – acoustic piano solo (3) * Luis Resto – Rhodes (4), vamp piano (4), synth pads (4), synth bass (4), acoustic piano (9), Ensoniq synthesizers (9), bass (9), drum and percussion programming (9), arrangements (9) * Sammy Merendino – synthesizers (7), programming (7) * Robbie Kondor – keyboards (8), programming (8) *

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 ...

– acoustic piano (10) * Michael Thompson – rhythm guitar (1) *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher ...

– guitar (2, 3, 10) * Paul Peterson – guitar (2), rhythm guitar (10) * Steve Bargonetti – guitar (6) * Ira Siegel – guitar (6, 7), guitar solo (7) *

Georg Wadenius Georg "Jojje" Wadenius (born 4 May 1945) is a Swedish multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was particularly active during the 1970s and 1980s as a studio and session guitarist and bassist, as well as for a series of albums of childr ...

– guitar (7) *

John McCurry John McCurry (born June 24, 1957) is an American musician and composer, a guitarist, songwriter and singer based in New York City. He has worked with many well-known musical artists, including Chicago, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Al ...

– guitar (8) *

Bucky Pizzarelli John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020) was an American jazz guitarist. He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) ...

– guitar (11) * Paul Jackson Jr. – guitar (12) * Nathan East – bass (3, 4) * James Genus – bass (6) * Anthony Jackson – bass (7, 8) * Charnett Moffett – bass (11) * Steve Ferrone – drums (1, 3, 4) * Bernard Davis – drums (6) *

Bashiri Johnson Bashiri Johnson (born May 12, 1955) is a New York City-based percussionist, whose work has appeared on many records, as well as in commercials, films, television, videogames, and concert performances. He is known to be one of the most recorded ...

– percussion (1) * Steve Thornton – percussion (7) * Andy Snitzer – saxophone (8) * Everette Harp – alto saxophone (12) *

Dan Higgins Dan Higgins (born January 28, 1957 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American saxophone and woodwind player. He has worked with such artists as John Williams, Seth MacFarlane, Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Al Jarreau, Maroon 5, Kenny Loggin ...

– baritone saxophone (12), tenor saxophone (12) * Reggie Young – trombone (12) *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'', '' Rock with You'' ...

– trumpet (12) * Patrick Moten – arrangements (1) * Gordon Chambers – backing vocals (5), BGV arrangements (5)

Production

* Anita Baker – executive producer, producer (1, 3, 6, 9) * Tommy LiPuma – producer (2, 10, 11) * Gerard Smerek – producer (4) * Barry J. Eastmond – producer (5, 7) * Arif Mardin – producer (8) * George Duke – producer (12) * Deborah Silverman-Kerr – project coordinator * Charilyn Suriano – project coordinator * Robin Smyth – art direction, design * Kip Lott – cover and booklet photography * Harry Langdon – additional pages booklet photography * Frank Ockenfels – additional booklet photography * BNB Associates, Ltd. – management ;Technical * Chris Albert – assistant engineer * Earl Cohen – assistant engineer, additional engineer (3, 6), engineer (5, 7) * Ian Craigie – assistant engineer * John Mabilia-assistant engineer * Carl Robinson-engineer * George Duke – mixing (1, 3-6, 11, 12) * Carl Glanville – assistant engineer * Andy Grassi – assistant engineer * John Hendrickson – assistant engineer * David Kutch – assistant engineer * Michael O'Reilly – additional engineer (3, 10), engineer (8, 11), mixing (8) * Randy Poole – engineer (2, 10) *

Doug Sax Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including ''The Wall''; Ray Charl ...

– mastering *

Al Schmitt Albert Harry Schmitt (April 17, 1930 – April 26, 2021) was an American recording engineer and record producer. He won twenty Grammy Awards for his work with Henry Mancini, Steely Dan, George Benson, Toto, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, and other ...

– engineer (1, 3), mixing (2, 10) * Gerard Smerek – engineer (1-4, 6, 7, 9, 10), mixing (1, 3-7, 11), lead vocal recording (1-12), lead vocal and piano recording (2, 11) * Erik Zobler – mixing (1, 3-6, 11, 12), engineer (12) ;Studios * Recorded at

The Hit Factory The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. History On March 6, 1975, Edward Germano, a singer, record producer, and one of the principal owners of the Record Plant Studios New York, purchased the ...

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten we ...

, The Power Station,

Unique Recording Studios Unique Recording Studios was a five-room recording studio operating near Times Square in New York City from 1978 until 2004. Founders and co-owners Bobby Nathan and Joanne Georgio-Nathan installed the first Otari 24-track tape deck in New York. ...

, Skyline Studios, Clinton Recording Studios, Soundtrack Studios and Greene Street Studios (New York, NY); East Bay Studios (Tarrytown, NY); Pearl Sound Studios and Studio A (Detroit, MI); Ambiance Recorders (Farmington Hills, MI). * Mixed at The Hit Factory and Unique Recording Studios (New York, NY);

Bill Schnee Studios William S. Schnee (born July 4, 1947) is an American musician, music producer, and audio engineer. Schnee has been nominated 11 times for the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Grammy Award and worked on a multitude of other Grammy nominated an ...

and Conway Studios (Hollywood, CA). * Mastered at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, CA).

Track listing

Personnel

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

See also