Let's Groove

"Let's Groove" is a song by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released as the first single from their eleventh studio album, ''Raise!'' (1981). It is written by Maurice White and Wayne Vaughn, and produced by White. The song was a commercial success, and was the band's highest-charting single in various territories. It peaked inside the top 20 in countries including the United States, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada and other component charts in America. In 1979 and the early 1980s, there was a severe backlash against disco music. In spite of this, the band decided to revive the disco sound that was included on their previous works and later records. Musically, "Let's Groove" is post-disco, pop and funk which includes instrumentation of synthesizers and keyboards along with live electric guitars.

Overview

"Let's Groove" was produced by Maurice White for Kalimba Productions. With a duration of five minutes and thirty nine seconds, the song has a tempo of 126 beats per minute.

Critical reception

Ken Tucker of ''Rolling Stone'' described Let's Groove as "city music" where "the horn section screams like a car running a red light." ''Record World'' praised the "deep, brawny bass line." Ed Hogan from AllMusic noted that White "brought in guitarist Roland Bautista and began co-writing, with Emotions member Wanda Vaughn and her husband Wayne Vaughn, a song that reflected the then-emerging electronic sound of the '80s. Not to be confused with the same-named hit by Archie Bell & the Drells, "Let's Groove" certainly was a change. Starting off with a robotic-sounding vocoder riff, it served up a more gritty-sounding EWF for the 1980s, laced with Brecker Brothers-supplied horn blasts that rival those of EWF's 1976 gold single 'Getaway'." ''People'' though said that the album's "biggest disappointment is Let's Groove, yet another gotta-boogie tune." Jordan Bartel of ''The Baltimore Sun'' noted that the song was "quite possibly the funkiest thing to come out of the early 1980s". Richard Williams of ''The Times'' wrote "Let's Groove, the bass-heavy new single, is a reliable pointer". Whitney Pastorek of Entertainment Weekly declared that "I actually love this song, especially the little computer voice in the background, like Pac-Man has come to life to boogie just for me!"

''NME'' placed Let's Groove at number 16 on their Singles of the Year list of 1981. "Let's Groove" was also Grammy nominated in the category of Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

Commercial performance

The song peaked at number three in the US, becoming their 7th and last top 10 hit. It also spent eight weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Soul Singles chart in late 1981 and early 1982 and was the second R&B song of 1982 on the year-end charts.

The single sold over a million copies in the US and has been certified gold by the RIAA as until the RIAA lowered the sales levels for certified singles in 1989, a gold single equalled 1 million units sold. "Let's Groove" was also certified platinum in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry.

Music video

The accompanying music video of "Let's Groove" was the first ever to be played on '' Video Soul'' on BET. Heavy with vintage electronic effects, the video was directed and created by Ron Hays using the Scanimate analog computer system at Image West, Ltd.

The style of the music video influenced that of Bruno Mars' "Treasure".

Personnel

* Writing – Maurice White, Wayne Vaughn
* Producer – Maurice White
* Assistant Producer - Larry Dunn, Verdine White
* Programmer – Larry Dunn
* String, horn arrangement – Billy Meyers

Engineers
* Assistant Engineer – Tom Perry
* Mixing Engineer – Mick Guzauski, Tom Perry
* Recording Engineer – Ken Fowler, Mick Guzauski, Ron Pendragon

Performers
* Saxophone – Tom Saviano
* Alto Saxophone – Don Myrick
* Tenor Saxophone – Andrew Woolfolk, Don Myrick
* Bass – Verdine White
* Cello – Frederick Seykora, Jerome Kessler, Larry Corbett, Marie Louise Zeyen, Paula Hochhalter, Selene Burford
* Concert Master – Assa Drori, James Getzoff
* Drums – Fred White
* Guitar – Beloyd Taylor, Johnny Graham, Roland Bautista
* Keyboards – Billy Meyers, David Foster, Wayne Vaughn
* Percussion – Fred White, Maurice White, Philip Bailey, Ralph Johnson
* Piano – Larry Dunn
* Synthesizer – Larry Dunn, Michael Boddiker
* Trombone – Bill Reichenbach, Charles Loper, Dick Hyde, George Bohanon, Lew McCreary, Louis Satterfield
* Trumpet – Chuck Findley, Gary Grant, Jerry Hey, Larry Hall, Michael Harris, Oscar Brashear, Rahmlee Michael Davis
* Viola – Alan Deveritch, Allan Harshman, Gareth Nuttycombe, Pamela Hochhalter, Virginia Majewski
* Violin – Anton Sen, Arkady Shindelman, Arnold Belnick, Betty Lamagna, Brian Leonard, Denyse Buffum, Endre Granat, Haim Shtrum, Henry Ferber, Irving Geller, Jerome Reisler, John Wittenbert, Mari Tsumura Botnick, Marvin Limonick, Myra Kestenbaum, Nathan Ross, Norman Leonard, Reginald Hill, Ronald Folsom, Sheldon Sanov, Thomas Buffum, William Hymanson, William Kurasch
* Vocal – Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White, Ms. Pluto, Philip Bailey, Ralph Johnson
* Background Vocal – Maurice White, Philip Bailey

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Sampling

Because "Let's Groove" was interpolated, Wayne Vaughn and Maurice White were credited as songwriters in " Feels" by Calvin Harris featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Big Sean.

CDB version

In 1995, "Let's Groove" was covered by the Australian R&B/pop boy band CDB. In Australia, the song reached number 2 and was certified platinum for shipments of over 70,000 units. In New Zealand, it peaked at number 1 for three weeks and also received a platinum certification, indicating sales exceeding 10,000 copies. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1996, "Let's Groove" won the Highest Selling Single category.

Track listing

CD single (662147 2)
#"Let's Groove" – 4:17
#"You Will Be Mine" – 4:07
#"Let's Groove" (Summer Groove) – 5:05
#"Let's Groove" (Instrumental) – 4:19

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

''Asia's Got Talent'' judges version

"Let's Groove" was covered by the ''Asia's Got Talent'' judges—David Foster, Anggun, Melanie C and Vanness Wu—and released as a promotional single on May 14, 2015, by Universal. It was released as a charity single for the May 2015 Nepal earthquake and all money raised was donated to the victims. This version was produced by David Foster.

Promotion

On May 14, 2015, the four artists performed the song in the final of first season of ''Asia's Got Talent''. On June 4, the ''Asia's Got Talent'' released the behind the scenes video of the recording.

Track listing

*;Digital download
#"Let's Groove" – 3:32

Release history

See also

* List of number-one R&B singles of 1981 (U.S.)
*List of number-one singles from the 1990s (New Zealand)

References

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1981 songs
1981 singles
1995 singles
2015 singles
Earth, Wind & Fire songs
CDB (band) songs
Melanie C songs
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Post-disco songs
Songs written by Maurice White
Columbia Records singles
Sony Music singles
Universal Music Group singles
Songs about dancing