Nancy Wilson (February 20, 1937 – December 13, 2018) – Life, Love and Harmony (1979)
The title track to the great singer's funkiest-ever LP was a dancefloor anthem, and in an alternate universe, the "best-selling disco single of all time."
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The great singer Nancy Wilson’s career spanned multiple genres and five decades.
See our earlier post on Wilson for more on her musical history.
At the peak of disco’s mainstream popularity, Wilson released her funkiest-ever album and proved she could conquer dancefloors just as she had mastered every other style of music to come along. Life, Love and Harmony was issued on her longtime label Capitol Records in 1979. It was produced and arranged by Larry Farrow, her musical director at the time, who played keyboards on it and co-wrote eight of its nine tracks with his songwriting partner Carolyn Joyce Johns.
The disco-funk flavored title track was released as the LP’s lead single. In an alternate universe, hilariously documented by a Nancy Wilson super-fan on a Fandom Wiki page, “Life, Love and Harmony” did very well:
“In January 2023, the single was certified 15× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), becoming the highest-certified single from the 20th century. “Life, Love and Harmony” is Wilson's biggest single to date, selling over 26 million copies worldwide. It is the fourth-best selling physical single of all time and the best-selling disco single of all-time.”
In reality, it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and only reached #83 R&B, although it was a phenomenal track and became a club hit.
Another of the LP’s highlights was the disco-funk jam “You’re The One,” co-written by Farrow and Jones.
The laid back jazz-funk cut “Sunshine” featured epic scat singing by Wilson and special guests Ralph Penland on drums, bassist Kevin Brandon, and John Klemmer on sax.
The album closed with the superb disco-funk jam “Heaven.” Like most of the rest of the LP, its all-star lineup included Farrow on keyboards, bassist Eddie Watkins, David T. Walker and Lee Ritenour on guitars, Ernie Watts, Ray Pizzi and Bill Green on woodwinds, Paulinho Da Costa on percussion, and the great drummer James Gadson.
Happy Birthday in Heaven to the fabulous Nancy Wilson.
Further info:
“Remembering Nancy Wilson,” NPR, December 15, 2018.
“Nancy Wilson,” obituary, The Guardian, December 18, 2018.
#soul #disco #NancyWilson