Sensational '70's Tune for Thu, Jan. 8th, '09

A Number 9 hit for Bobby Caldwell in 1979:



Bobby Caldwell met producer/publisher/manager Henry Marx in 1976, when Marx was a staff producer at an independent record company. One of Marx's acts, singer Donny Gerrard (lead vocalist on Skylark's "Wildflower"), covered one of Caldwell's songs. In 1979, Caldwell signed with Henry Stone's Hialeah, FL-based TK Records, recording on their Clouds label. It seemed an odd signing at the time as the label was the home of million-selling disco hitmakers KC and the Sunshine Band, and Caldwell was a jazzy, romantic balladeer. TK also struck gold with Anita Bell's "Ring My Bell" (a platinum-selling cover by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince in 1992), George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby," his wife Gwen McCrae's "Rockin' Chair," rock group Foxy's "Get Off," Latimore's "Let's Straighten It Out," and Jimmy Bo Horne's "Let's Dance Across the Floor." Around the time of the signing, Caldwell asked Marx to become his manager. The two went on a 14-month, 200,000-mile national promotional tour. The resultant airplay began to generate listener phone response and retail sales took both his first album, Bobby Caldwell, and the single, "What You Won't Do for Love," to platinum status in the United States and Japan. The track was a Top Ten hit on both the R&B and pop charts. The follow-up singles, "Can't Say Goodbye" and "My Flame," were both Top 40 R&B hits. During the '90s, Caldwell and Marx formed the Sindrome label with Caldwell becoming a smooth jazz radio favorite.