Mixtapes

Monday Mixtape: Barry White “The Icon Of Love”

 

Today’s Monday Mixtape is an oldschool artist spotlight on Barry White. I remember going to see his concert in 1995 at Madison Square Garden with my cousins. We sat behind Q-Tip and we was having so much fun…Q-Tip looked like he wanted to leave his date and join us! But seriously…Barry White was the ultimate love song soul singer. His songs had introductions that resembled foreplay..and he never let you down with his next course. This mixtape is also dedicated to my sister Divalicious…because of her I know all about the Icon of Love …I let the beat rock on a lot of these…I’m sure you hear the beats on most of your favorite rap and r&b songs sampled from Barry! Also some of my favorite deep voiced Podcasters stopped in to show me love: Mr. Fresh, Fave, DarrenKeith and of course the Sensei EJ Flavors!

Enjoy!

Track Listing

1. It’s Ecstacy, When You Lay Down Next To Me
2. Let The Music Play
3. Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love
4. What Am I Gonna Do With You
5. Honey Please, Can’t Ya See
6. Your Sweetness Is My Weakness
7. I’m Qualified To Satisfy You
8. You’re The First, My Last, My Everything
9. I’ll Do For You Anything You Want Me To
10. Don’t Make Me Wait Too Long
11. Never, Never Gonna Give You Up
12. Playing Your Game Baby
13. Come On
14. Oh, What A Night For Dancing
15. Just The Way You Are
16. Practice What You Preach
17. Staying Power
18. The Secret Garden – Feat. James Ingram, El DeBarge, and Al B. Sure
19. The Love Unlimited Orchestra – Satin Soul
20. The Love Unlimited Orchestra -Love’s Theme

Biography:

Early life and career
White was born in Galveston, Texas and grew up in the high-crime areas of South Central Los Angeles, where he joined a gang at the age of 10. At 17, he was jailed for four months for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires.

While in prison, White listened to Elvis Presley singing “It’s Now or Never” on the radio, an experience he later credited with changing the course of his life. After his release, he left gang life and began a musical career at the dawn of the 1960s in singing groups before going out on his own in the middle of the decade. The marginal success he had to that point was as a songwriter; his songs were recorded by rock singer Bobby Fuller and TV bubblegum act The Banana Splits. He was also responsible in 1963 for arranging “Harlem Shuffle” for Bob & Earl, which became a hit in the UK in 1969. He discovered disco artist Viola Wills in 1965, and signed her to Bronco Records.

Success
In August 1969, he got his break producing a girl group called Love Unlimited. His best friend Max Murray helped him get his start in music. He made Barry his prodigy and led him to fame. Formed in imitation of the legendary Motown girl group The Supremes, the group members honed their talents with White for the next two years until they all signed contracts with 20th Century Records. White produced, wrote and arranged the classic soul ballad “Walking in the Rain (With The One I Love)”, which hit the Top 20 of the pop charts. The group would score more hits throughout the ’70s and White eventually married the lead singer of the group, Glodean James.

While working on a few demos for a male singer, the record label suggested White step out in front of the microphone, to which he reluctantly agreed. His first solo chart hit, 1973’s “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby”, rose to #1 R&B and #3 Pop. That same year, the Love Unlimited Orchestra’s recording of White’s composition “Love’s Theme” reached #1 Pop in 1974, one of only two instrumental recordings ever to do so. Some regard “Love’s Theme” as the first disco hit ever.

Other chart hits by White include “Never, Never Gonna Give You Up” (1973), “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” (1974), “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” (1974), “What Am I Gonna Do With You” (1975), “Let the Music Play” (1976), “It’s Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me” (1977), “Your Sweetness is My Weakness” (1978), and “Change” (1982).

Considered handsome and deeply romantic by his many female fans and admired for the unique blend of soul and classical orchestral musical elements he created, White was often affectionately referred to as the “Maestro” or “The Man with the Velvet Voice”. His portly physical stature led some in the popular press to make condescending jokes about his weight by referring to White as the “Walrus of Love,” a moniker considered disrespectful by many fans. Barry White was also referred to as “The Sultan of Smooth Soul,” but it was his role as brainchild of the funk-fueled, deep soul band, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, in which he was widely branded on several early albums as the group’s Maestro, earning him the only documented nickname for which he and his musical colleagues were responsible.

Comebacks
Although White’s success on the pop charts slowed down as the disco era came to an end, he maintained a loyal following throughout his career. In the 1990s, he mounted an effective comeback with the albums The Icon Is Love (1994), whose biggest hit, “Practice What You Preach” reached the top of the charts. In 1996, White recorded the incredibly steamy “Wildest Dreams” with rock icon Tina Turner. Staying Power (1999) won 2 Grammy Awards. In addition, his music was often featured on the sitcom Ally McBeal and he appeared on the show twice.

Death
White had been ill with chronically high blood pressure for some time, which resulted in kidney failure in the autumn of 2002. He suffered a stroke in May 2003, after which he was forced to retire from public life. On 4 July, 2003, he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from renal failure. White was cremated, and his ashes were scattered by his family off the California coast

On 20 September, 2004, he was posthumously inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame at a ceremony held in New York.

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