Powerlight

Powerlight is the twelfth studio album by Earth, Wind & Fire, produced by the band's leader Maurice White for Kalimba Productions, and released in February 1983. Powerlight has been certified gold for selling over 500, 000 copies in the US by the RIAA.^[1]

Powerlight went to number 12 and number 4 on the Pop and R&B album charts and the single "Fall in Love with Me" reached number 17 and number 4 on the Pop and R&B charts respectively.^[2] "Fall in Love with Me" was also Grammy nominated for Best R&B vocal performance by A Duo or group.^[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[4]
Robert Christgau	(A-)^[5]
Warr.org	^[6]

Allmusic's Craig Lytle refers to the album as "an entertaining piece" and goes on to say that "Throughout the entire album, White's unifying message is fueled by the aggressive rhythms and relaxing melodies".^[7] Robert Christgau says that on the album "we're free to gape at this band's spectacular popcraft" and summed up his review by describing Powerlight as "the best argument for universalism they'll ever make".^[8]

Samples

"Something Special" has been sampled by Will Smith on the title track of his 1997 album Big Willie Style and "Side by Side" has been sampled by Common on the track Charms Alarm featured on his 1992 album Can I Borrow a Dollar?.^[9]

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Fall In Love With Me"	Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Maurice White	5:54
2.	"Spread Your Love"	Azar Lawrence, Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White	3:51
3.	"Side by Side"	Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Maurice White	5:57
4.	"Straight from the Heart"	Philip Bailey, Eduardo del Barrio, Roxanne Seeman, Freddie Washington	4:42

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
5.	"The Speed of Love"	Earth, Wind & Fire, Tony Haynes, Wayne Vaughn, Maurice White	3:36
6.	"Freedom of Choice"	Azar Lawrence, Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White	4:10
7.	"Something Special"	Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Maurice White	4:23
8.	"Hearts to Heart"	Azar Lawrence, Beloyd Taylor, Maurice White	3:45
9.	"Miracles"	Marry D'Astugues, Eduardo del Barrio, Jon Lind, Maurice White	4:58

^[10]

Personnel

Adapted from the Discogs credits.^[11]

Additional backing vocals - Ms. Pluto
Additional backing vocals, guitar - Beloyd Taylor
Bass - Verdine White
Cello - Douglas Davis, Earl Madison, Frederick Seykora, Larry Corbett, Ronald Cooper, Suzie Katayama
Double bass - Arni Egilsson
Drums, percussion - Fred White
Guitar - Roland Bautista
Harp - Dorothy Remsen
Keyboards - Eduardo Del Barrio, Rick Kelly, Skip Scarborough, Wayne Vaughn, George Del Barrio
Lead & backing vocals, percussion - Philip Bailey
Lead & backing vocals, drums, kalimba - Maurice White
Percussion - Paulinho Da Costa, Ralph Johnson
Piano - Maxanne Lewis
Prophet-5 synthesizer - Azar Lawrence
Saxophone - Donald Myrick
Steel drums - Robert Greenidge
Synthesizer programming - Larry Dunn
Tabla - Zakir Hussain
Tenor saxophone - Andrew Woolfolk
Trombone - Bill Reichenbach Jr., Charles Loper, George Bohanon, Lew McCreary, Louis Satterfield
Trumpet - Chuck Findley, Gary Grant, Michael Harris, Oscar Brashear, Rahmlee Michael Davis, Jerry Hey
Viola - Alan Deveritch, Allan Harshman, Carole Mukogawa, David Schwartz, Joel Soultanian, Linn Subotnick, Milton Kestenbaum, Pamela Goldsmith, Roland Karo, Rollice Dale
Violin - Anatol Kaminsky, Arnold Belnick, Bill Hybel, Bob Sanov, Brenton Banks, George Kast, Haim Shtrum, Harry Bluestone, Janet Lakatos, Karen Jones, Marshall Sosson, Miwako Watanabe, Myer Bello, Nathan Ross, Nicole Bush, Pam Tompkins, Robert Lipsett, Robert Sushel, Ron Clark, Shari Zippert, Sheldon Sanov, Stanley Plummer

Production

Strings arranged by Bill Meyers & George Del Barrio
Horns arranged by Jerry Hey, George Del Barrio & Bill Meyers
Art Direction - Monte White & Roger Carpenter
Illustration - Shusei Nagaoka
Concertmaster - Assa Drori, David Frisina
Assistant Engineers - Robert Spano & Steve Crimmel
Mastered by Bernie Grundman
Additional Mixing - Tom Perry
Production Staff - Geri White, Leonard Smith & Monte White
Steel drums made by Rudolph Charles
Producer - Maurice White
Recorded & Mixed by Mick Guzauski

Charts

Album – Billboard
Year	Chart	Position
1983	Black Albums	4
1983	Pop Albums	12

Year	Chart	Position^[12]
1983	United Kingdom	22

Singles – Billboard
Year	Single	Chart	Position
1983	"Fall In Love With Me"	Black Singles	4
		Club Play Singles	31
		Pop Singles	17
	"Side By Side"	Black Singles	15
	"Side By Side"	Pop Singles	76
	"Spread Your Love"	Black Singles	57

^[2]

References

↑ RIAA Certification for Powerlight
1 2 Powerlight - Charts on Allmusic.com
↑ www.earthwindandfire.com/bio_awards.html
↑ Allmusic review
↑ Robert Christgau review
↑ Warr.org review
↑ Lytle, Craig. "Powerlight album review". allmusic.com.
↑ Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide Album Earth, Wind & Fire: Powerlight". robertchristgau.com.
↑ Earth, Wind & Fire music sampled by others
↑ "Powerlight - Overview". allmusic.com. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
↑ Powerlight on discogs.com
↑ "Powerlight". chartstats.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2009.

Earth, Wind & Fire

Philip Bailey Verdine White Ralph Johnson B. David Whitworth Myron McKinley John Paris Philip Bailey, Jr. Morris O'Connor Serg Dimitrijevic Maurice White Michael Beale Leslie Drayton Wade Flemons Yackov Ben Israel Sherry Scott Carl Carwell Alexander Thomas Chester Washington Don Whitehead Roland Bautista Jessica Cleaves Larry Dunn Ronnie Laws Johnny Graham Al McKay Andrew Woolfolk Fred White Beloyd Taylor Sonny Emory Sheldon Reynolds Dick Smith Vance Taylor Fred Ravel Morris Pleasure David Romero Mike McKnight Robert Brookins Gordon Campbell Bobby Gonzales Daniel de los Reyes Kimberly Brewer John Johnson Krystal Bailey Kim Johnson Greg "G-Mo" Moore Vadim Zilberstein

Studio albums	Earth, Wind & Fire The Need of Love Last Days and Time Head to the Sky Open Our Eyes That's the Way of the World Spirit All 'n All I Am Faces Raise! Powerlight Electric Universe Touch the World Heritage Millennium In the Name of Love The Promise Illumination Now, Then & Forever Holiday

Compilations and live albums	Another Time Gratitude The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1 The Collection The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 2 The Eternal Dance Elements of Love: Ballads Greatest Hits Live Greatest Hits The Ultimate Collection The Essential Earth, Wind & Fire That's the Way of the World: Alive in 75 Live in Rio Love Songs Ultimate Collection

Singles	"Evil" "Keep Your Head to the Sky" "Mighty Mighty" "Devotion" "Shining Star" "That's the Way of the World" "Reasons" "Sing a Song" "Can't Hide Love" "Getaway" "Saturday Nite" "Serpentine Fire" "Fantasy" "Got to Get You into My Life" "September" "Boogie Wonderland" "After the Love Has Gone" "In the Stone" "Let Me Talk" "And Love Goes On" "Let's Groove" "Wanna Be with You" "I've Had Enough" "Fall in Love with Me" "System of Survival" "Thinking of You" "Sunday Morning" "All in the Way" "Pure Gold"

Other albums	Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

Videos	Earth, Wind & Fire: In Concert The Eternal Vision Earth, Wind & Fire: Live Earth, Wind & Fire: Live By Request Chicago & Earth, Wind & Fire – Live at the Greek Theatre

Related articles	Ramsey Lewis The Pharaohs Charles Stepney The Phenix Horns The Emotions Devoted Spirits: A Tribute to Earth Wind and Fire Interpretations: Celebrating the Music of Earth, Wind & Fire

Lists	Discography Awards and nominations Tribute albums Personnel

Book Category

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