''Some People's Lives'' is the seventh studio album by American singer

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

. It was released by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

on September 4, 1990, in the United States. It contains one of her biggest hits, " From a Distance," which won songwriter Julie Gold a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Song of the Year in 1991. ''Some People's Lives'' became the biggest commercial success of Midler's musical career, peaking at number 6 in the US and number 5 in the UK. It was later awarded double platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for sales of over two million copies in the US alone.

Background

Following a series of successful

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

movies made throughout the 1980s, among them ''

Down and Out in Beverly Hills ''Down and Out in Beverly Hills'' is a 1986 American comedy film co-written and directed by Paul Mazursky, based on the 1919 French play ''Boudu sauvé des eaux'', which was later adapted into the 1932 film '' Boudu sauvé des eaux'' by Jean ...

'', '' Ruthless People'', '' Outrageous Fortune'', ''

Oliver and Company Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver ...

'' and ''

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'', Midler returned to the music scene with a proper studio album in 1990, her first since 1983's rock and new wave-influenced ''

No Frills A no-frills or no frills service or product is one for which the non-essential features have been removed to keep the price low. The term "Ruffle (sewing), frills" originally refers to a style of fabric decoration. Something offered to customers f ...

''. ''Some People's Lives'', however, had more in common with the preceding soundtrack ''

Beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

'' in that it featured both interpretations of jazz standards like " Miss Otis Regrets", " Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" and " He Was Too Good to Me" as well as more chart-oriented pop and

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

material with contrasting synth-driven arrangements courtesy of producer

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

, his son Joe and Robbie Buchanan. The up-tempo track "Moonlight Dancing" (first recorded by pop/R&B group

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...

) was written by noted hitmaker

Diane Warren Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has won an Academy Honorary Award, Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and three consecutive ''Billboard'' Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year from 19 ...

and "The Gift of Love" by Tom Kelly and

Billy Steinberg William Endfield Steinberg (born February 26, 1950) is an American songwriter. He achieved his greatest success in the 1980s with songwriting partner Tom Kelly (musician), Tom Kelly; together they wrote or co-wrote the No. 1 hits "Like a Virgin ...

and

Susanna Hoffs Susanna Lee Hoffs (born January 17, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress. With Debbi Peterson and Vicki Peterson, she founded the Bangles in 1981. Their debut album, ''All Over the Place (The Bangles album), All Over ...

. Steinberg and Kelly were the songwriting team behind

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

's " Like a Virgin",

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

's " True Colors" and

The Bangles The Bangles are an American all-female band, all-female pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, in 1981. They are known for hit singles during the 1980s that made them one of the most successful pop rock groups of the decade. The band’s biggest ...

' "

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Promotion

"Moonlight Dancing" (also released as an extended dance remix which sampled the 1973 recording " Do You Want to Dance"), " Night and Day" and "The Gift of Love" were all issued as singles, but the biggest hit that the album produced was Midler's interpretation of Julie Gold's anthem of universal brotherhood " From a Distance" featuring The Radio Choir of New Hope Church. The single reached number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and number 6 in the UK and was later certified platinum in the US, making it Midler's second million-seller within the space of two years (following " Wind Beneath My Wings" from the ''Beaches'' soundtrack). The song has since been recorded by a large number of other artists, and Midler herself included an alternate version with partly re-written lyrics on her 2006 album '' Cool Yule''.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

editor Bryan Buss called the album "one of the singer's strongest collections." He felt that aside from "poor production" on "From a Distance," ''Some People's Lives'' was "a smooth collection of standards ..This is Midler at her best – playful, yearning, brassy, regretful – and that is mostly because producer Arif Mardin surrounds his star with respectful production that matches her talent while accenting her strengths." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' critic Dennis Hunt criticized the album for its "overload of whiny, dirge-like ballads ..Fortunately, there's nothing on the album quite as unabashedly sentimental as " Wind Beneath My Wings," but many of the songs have those same sappy overtones."

Commercial performance

''Some People's Lives'' became the biggest commercial success of Midler's musical career. It reached its highest peak in the United Kingdom, where it entered the top five and reached gold status in July 1991. In the United States, it peaked at number 6 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, becoming her highest-charting album since ''

'' (1973). Exceeding shipments of more than 2 million copies, it was certified double platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) in March 1991. Elsewhere, the album entered the top ten in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, while reaching number 15 on the German Albums Chart and number 27 on the Austrian Albums Chart. ''Some People's Lives'' was classified as the 36th best-selling album of 1991 in Australia. In Canada, the set became the 60th most-selling album in 1990, while in 1991 it scored at number 36 on the End-of-Year chart. ''Billboard'' ranked it 16th on its 1991 year-end chart.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians *

– all vocals (1–6, 8, 9), lead vocals (7, 10) * Joe Mardin – keyboards (1, 5, 8, 10), programming (1, 5, 8, 10), arrangements (1, 8, 10), keyboard solo (5), conductor (8), backing vocals (10) *

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman ( ; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman, actor Billy Crystal, and director Rob Reiner. Shaiman ha ...

– arrangements (1–4, 6), acoustic piano (2, 9), conductor (2, 3, 4, 6), vocal arrangements (7, 8), basic rhythm arrangements (9) * Bernie Layton – acoustic piano (3) * Robbie Buchanan – keyboards (6, 7, 11), programming (6, 11), additional programming (8) * Michael Boddicker – additional synthesizers (6), additional programming (11) * Guy Roche – additional programming (8) * Gene Bertoncini – guitars (3) *

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record-producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitchel ...

– guitars (6, 7) *

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

– guitars (6, 11) *

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

– guitars (10) * Andrew Gold – guitar solo (11) *

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy Awards, and is also a Cello, cellist who has reco ...

– bass (3) *

Neil Stubenhaus Neil Stubenhaus is an American bass guitarist. Career He started his musical training playing drums and switched to bass guitar at the age of 12. In one of his early bands, The Neighbourhood in 1969, he played with future Kiss guitarist Vinnie V ...

– bass (6, 7, 11) * Jay Leonhart – bass (9) *

Grady Tate Grady Tate (January 14, 1932 – October 8, 2017) was an American jazz and soul-jazz drummer and baritone vocalist. In addition to his work as sideman, Tate released many albums as leader and lent his voice to songs in the animated ''Schoolhou ...

– drums (3) * Carlos Vega – drums (6, 7, 11) * Steve Kroon – percussion (1) * Gary Coleman – percussion (6) * Phil Bodner –

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

solo (3) * Nino Tempo – tenor saxophone (4) * Andy Snitzer – soprano sax solo (6) *

– arrangements (1, 5, 7, 11), orchestral arrangements and conductor (9) * Billie Hughes – arrangements (5) * Steve Skinner – arrangements (7) * Sid Page – concertmaster (2) * Bruce Dukov – concertmaster (4) *

Gene Orloff Gene Orloff (June 14, 1921 – March 23, 2009) was an American violinist, concertmaster, arranger, contractor and session musician. Background The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from th ...

– concertmaster (9) * Charlotte Crossley – backing vocals (7) * Cissy Houston – backing vocals (7) * Jo Ann Harris – backing vocals (7) * David Lasley – backing vocals (7) * Myrna Smith – backing vocals (7) * Gene Van Buren – backing vocals (7) * John West – backing vocals (7) * The Radio Choir of New Hope Church – backing vocals (7) * Ula Hedwig – backing vocals (10) * George Merrill – backing vocals (10) * Tom Kelly – backing vocals (11), vocal arrangements (11) *

Maria Vidal Maria Elena Vidal (born August 1, 1960) is an American singer songwriter. Her single "Body Rock" reached No. 8 on the US Dance Charts, No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100, No. 5 on the Springbok Charts in South Africa, and No. 11 in the UK, ...

– backing vocals (11) Production * Arif Mardin – producer * Marc Shaiman – associate producer *

Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, record executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Dou ...

– recording, mixing * Joe Mardin – additional recording (1), additional mixing (1) * Eddie Garcia – additional recording (1), additional mixing (1) * Michael O'Reilly – additional recording (1), additional mixing (1) * Nick Sansano – additional recording (1), additional mixing (1) * Ken Felton – assistant engineer * Rob Harvey – assistant engineer * Ed Korengo – assistant engineer * Bob Loftus – assistant engineer * Gabriel Moffat – assistant engineer * James Nichols – assistant engineer * Clif Norrell – assistant engineer * Anthony Saunders – assistant engineer * Jamie Staub – assistant engineer *

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

– mastering * Marsha Burns – production coordination * Lisa Maldonado – additional coordination * Vicky Germaise – additional coordination * Frank DeCaro – orchestra contractor * Gene Orloff – orchestra contractor * Greg Gorman – photography * Bob Defrin – art direction, design Studios * Recorded at

Ocean Way Recording Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates recording facilities, but O ...

(Hollywood, California); Studio 55 and Studio Ultimo (Los Angeles, California);

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. It was completed by 1970. Hendrix ...

, Battery Studios, BMG Studios and

Greene St. Recording Greene St. Recording was a New York City recording studio, located at 112 Greene Street in SoHo, Manhattan, until its closure in 2001. It was one of the early headquarters of hip hop music during the 1980s and 1990s. History Background In the ...

(New York City, New York). * Mixed at Studio 55 and Electric Lady Studios. * Mastered at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California).

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Bette Midler albums Albums produced by Arif Mardin Atlantic Records albums