Red Hot Rhythm & Blues
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Red Hot Rhythm and Blues is a 1987 album by the American singer Diana Ross. It also made the charts in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, as well as reaching the top 20 in Sweden and Norway. It was Ross's final album for RCA Records though the label wanted her to re-sign. It peaked at a disappointing #73 on the "[[Billboard (magazine) album chart in the US despite an Emmy nominated television special that was a ratings success.
The album included the Top 15 US R&B and UK Top 50 hit, "Dirty Looks", written by Richard Scher & Lotti Golden, and the ballad "It's Hard for Me to Say", produced by Luther Vandross. It also included cover versions of several R&B classics, including The Bobbettes' "Mr. Lee", Jackie Ross' "Selfish One," Etta James' "Tell Mama", and The Drifters' "There Goes My Baby". A Shep Pettibone remix of "Shockwaves" was released as a single in the UK which peaked at #76.
The album was promoted with a TV special featuring Etta James, Little Richard, Billy Dee Williams, Leslie Nielsen, LL Cool J, Bernadette Peters and Wolfman Jack. The tracks "Mr Lee" and "Tell Mama" did not feature on the US version of the album and the mix of "Dirty Looks" was the UK version which differs from the US version.
The cover photography was by Herb Ritts.
Track listing
- Side A
- "Dirty Looks" (Richard Scher, Lotti Golden) – 3:21 (different mix than US release, which runs at 4:10)
- "Stranger in Paradise" (John Capek, Amy Sky) – 3:59
- "Summertime" (Leonard Cohen, Sharon Robinson) – 4:04
- "Shine" (Mick Hucknall) – 3:32
- "Tell Me Again" (Wintley Phipps) – 3:13
- "Mr. Lee" (Emma Pought, Jannie Pought, Helen Gather, Laura Webb, Reather Dixon) – 3:07 (song not included on US release)
Side B
- "Tell Mama" (Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel, Wilbur Terrell) – 3:38 (song not included on US release)
- "Selfish One" (Carl Smith, Wilfred McKinley) – 3:31
- "Cross My Heart" (Sharon Robinson) – 4:09
- "There Goes My Baby" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, George Treadwell, Lover Patterson) – 3:03
- "It's Hard for Me to Say" (Luther Vandross) – 4:43
- "Shockwaves" (Diana Ross, Mark Cawley, Bill Wray) – 3:46
Personnel
- Diana Ross – vocals
- Luther Vandross – background vocals
- John Capek – keyboards
- Chuck Rainey – bass
- Tommy Vig – drums, percussion
- Darryl Tookes – background vocals
- Jocelyn Brown – background vocals
- Dennis Collins – background vocals
- Francisco Centeno – bass
- Paulinho Da Costa – percussion
- Benny Diggs – background vocals
- Nathan East – bass
- Steve Farris – guitar
- Steve Ferrone – drums, percussion
- Sammy Figueroa – percussion
- Steve Gadd – drums, percussion
- Eric Gale – guitar
- Steve Goldstein – synthesizer
- Lani Groves – background vocals
- Ivan Hampden – drums
- Joseph Joubert – keyboards
- Jason Miles – synthesizer
- Jeff Mironov – guitar
- Greg Phillinganes – keyboards
- Richard Tee – keyboards
