Joanna (Kool & the Gang song)

"Joanna"
Single by Kool & the Gang
from the album In the Heart
B-side "Place For Us"
Released December 17, 1983
Format 45 RPM 7"
Genre R&B, Pop
Length 4:02
Label Polygram
Writer(s) Robert Earl Bell, Ronald Nathan Bell, James Bonneford, George Melvin Brown, James "J.T." Taylor, Claydes Charles Smith, Clifford Adams and Curtis "Fitz" Williams
Certification Gold (RIAA)
Kool & the Gang singles chronology
"Get Down on It"
(1981)		 "Joanna"
(1983)		 "Tonight"
(1984)
Alternative cover
French single sleeve

"Joanna" is an R&B/Pop song by Kool & the Gang from their 1983 album, In the Heart. Released as a single on December 17, 1983, the song was an immediate hit peaking at #2 in the US for one week, behind "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club.[1] Additionally, the track reached #2 in the UK as well as #1 on the US R&B chart.[2]

A romantic ballad similar to many of Kool & The Gang's later releases, the song features as its main subject the eponymous girl named "Joanna". In the group's music video, "Joanna" is portrayed as the current owner of a small, roadside café named "Joanna's Diner" (Filmed at the Colonial Diner in Lyndhurst, N.J. The Colonial sign can be seen briefly outside in the opening seconds of the video). Throughout the video, she serves the band members as both cook and waitress as they serenade her with the video occasionally flashing back to her younger days as a dancer at Harlem's famous Cotton Club in New York City and in love with the character portrayed by the group's lead singer, James "J.T." Taylor. The artist Glue70 sampled "Joanna" in his song "Casin".

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1983-84) Peak
position
Australia 45
Canada RPM 15
UK 2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 2
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks 2
U.S. Billboard R&B 1
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 3

Year-end charts

Chart (1984) Rank
UK [3] 23
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [4] 24

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Billboard Hot 100". 1984-02-11. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  2. ↑ Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 287. ISBN 0-87586-207-1.
  3. ↑ http://www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1984.shtml
  4. ↑ http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1984.htm
Preceded by
"Time Will Reveal" by DeBarge		 Billboard Hot Black Singles number-one single
January 14, 1984 – January 21, 1984 		Succeeded by
"If Only You Knew" by Patti LaBelle


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