On this day in music history: January 23, 1988 - Love Overboard by Gladys Knight & The Pips hits #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart for 1 week, also peaking at #13 on the Hot 100 on March 13, 1988. Written by Reggie Calloway, it is the tenth and final chart topping single for the veteran family R&B vocal group from Atlanta, GA. With nearly four decades of recording and performing together, Gladys Knight & The Pips have scored more than fifty chart entries on the Billboard R&B singles, making them one of the most successful vocal groups of all time. After scoring several hits while signed to Columbia Records in the 80s, MCA Records black music President Jheryl Busby will approach the group about signing with the label as their contract with CBS is about to expire in 1986. Once they are under contract Busby will take a hands on role in helping Knight & The Pips initial outing for MCA to be successful. A&R executive Louil Silas, Jr. will suggest that the group work with songwriter and producers Reggie and Vincent Calloway of the band Midnight Star. Having previously crafted hits for their own band as well as Klymaxx and Levert, the Calloway brothers will get right to work writing songs for the group. Knowing Gladys great interpretive power, especially on songs about relationships (If I Were Your Woman, Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me, Save The Overtime (For Me)), Reggie Calloway will come up with Love Overboard. The track is cut at QCA Studios in the brothers home town of Cincinnati, OH, and features musician and producer George Duke (piano), Ready Freddie Washington (bass), Gene Robinson (guitar), and Reggie Calloway (drum programming). Issued as the first single from their twenty sixth studio album All Our Love, it will quickly become a smash on black radio. Overboard will also be the groups first (and final) top 40 in nearly thirteen years. Love Overboard will win Gladys Knight & The Pips their third Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal in 1989, with the single driving sales of the album to Gold status in the US.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 01:30:11 +0000
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