"Give Me the Night" is a song recorded by American jazz and R&B musician

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, play ...

, which he released from his 1980 studio album of the same title. It was written and composed by

Heatwave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in th ...

's keyboard player

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 produced by

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 ...

. Patti Austin provides the backing and scat vocals that are heard throughout, and one of Benson's fellow jazz guitarists, Lee Ritenour, also performs on the selection. The song was a commercial success, and was Benson's first single to hit number one on the US ''Billboard'' Soul Singles chart. It also peaked at number four on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, making it his most successful pop entry. It also peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot Disco Singles chart and at number seven in 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 ...

, where it ties with "In Your Eyes" as his highest charting single.

Track listing

;

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

WBS 49505 (US, 7") #"Give Me the Night" #"Dinorah, Dinorah" ;

Qwest Qwest Communications International, Inc. was a United States telecommunications carrier. Qwest provided local service in 14 western and midwestern U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dako ...

K 17673 (UK, 7") #"Give Me the Night" #"Breezin'" ;

LV 40 (US, 12") #"Give Me the Night" (long version) #"

The World Is a Ghetto ''The World Is a Ghetto'' is the fifth album by American band War, released in late 1972 on United Artists Records. The album attained the number one spot on ''Billboard'', and was ''Billboard'' magazine's Album of the Year as the best-selling a ...

" #"Breezin'"

Personnel

– guitar, lead vocals * Lee Ritenour – guitar *

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López Sr. (born July 17, 1947) is a Mexican-American bassist who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. ''Guitar Player'' magazine called him "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the f ...

– bass guitar * John Robinson – drums * Herbie Hancock – electric piano *

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", " Sl ...

– synthesizer bass *

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 * Paulinho da Costa – percussion * Patti Austin,

Diva Gray Diva Gray is an American singer. She is best known as a background vocalist behind the band Chic, as well as in disco groups, including Change, and Lemon with Lani Groves, Gordon Grody, Luther Vandross, David Lasley David Eldon Lasley (August ...

, Jocelyn Brown,

Tom Bahler Thomas Lee Bahler (also spelled Bähler; born June 1, 1943) is an American singer, composer, songwriter, arranger, producer, and author. He is the younger brother of singer, arranger, conductor and composer John Bahler. Bahler is most known for ...

, Jim Gilstrap – background vocals *

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, string and horn arrangements *

Kim Hutchcroft Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese f ...

Larry Williams Larry Williams (born Lawrence Eugene Williams, a.k.a. Lawrence Edward Williams; May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams ...

– saxophone, flute *

– producer, rhythm arrangements *

– rhythm and vocal arrangements

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Uses and samples

*The song was covered by singer

Randy Crawford Veronica "Randy" Crawford (born February 18, 1952) is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, she has ap ...

for her 1995 album ''Naked & True''. *The song is used as a sample in " Je danse le Mia" by French hip hop band

IAM IAM may refer to: Concepts * Identity and access management, a concept that combines business processes, policies and technologies * Indo-Aryan migration, the theory that speakers of Indo-Aryan languages migrated into the Indian subcontinent dur ...

. *The song is parodied as " Le Casse de Brice" in the French film ''

Brice de Nice ''Brice de Nice'' (, ) is a 2005 French surreal comedy-drama film directed by James Huth, written by Huth, Jean Dujardin, and Karine Angeli, and starring Dujardin. It is set in France, centering on the character Brice from Nice ("Brice de Nice") o ...

''.

References

{{authority control 1980 singles 1980 songs Disco songs George Benson songs Song recordings produced by Quincy Jones Songs written by Rod Temperton Warner Records singles