Musicians - Bobby Caldwell

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	Musicians - Bobby Caldwell

Bobby Caldwell (born August 15, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who, despite a prolific musical output over his more than 25-year career, is still best known for his 1978 hit single "What You Won't Do for Love." While he has always maintained a devoted fan base in the United States, a more legendary status has been bestowed upon him in Japan.

Early life

Bobby Caldwell was born in Manhattan, New York City to Bob and Carolyn Caldwell, the hosts of Suppertime, an early television variety show. Living in Memphis and, chiefly, Miami (which he has called an influential "dumping ground" for all kinds of music), he took up piano and guitar as a preteen. Forming his own band at 17, he took the group on the road, later recording an album entitled Kathmandu.

Caldwell's first performances were more rock-oriented than the bulk of his career would indicate; early dates had him playing Jimi Hendrix and Cream covers in small clubs.

Recording career

Bobby Caldwell/What You Won't Do for Love

Ten years later, Bobby Caldwell recorded his double platinum-attaining self-titled solo album, scoring hits with the singles "What You Won't Do for Love", "My Flame" and, in Britain, "Down for the Third Time". In order to ensure significant airplay on the African American-dominated R&B radio format of the time, Caldwell's management took certain steps -- such as portraying the artist only in silhouette on the cover and in advertisements -- to hide the fact that he was white. The secret was, for obvious reasons, shattered by his first live appearances.

After the tracks were first recorded and the record was considered "complete," the head of the label said that he enjoyed the album but couldn't hear a hit. Attempting to address this issue, Caldwell and his band re-entered the studio, laying down the song's now-familiar rhythm tracks. After he quickly penned a set of lyrics, "What You Won't Do for Love" was born.

Reaching the top ten on both the pop and R&B charts, the song proved to be a success, though a bit of a surprise one due both to the haste with which it was written and the fact that Caldwell assumed "My Flame", the LP's second track ("What You Won't Do for Love" is the sixth), would wind up as the standout single. The album which contained it was later re-released under the song's title. The single was also marketed in the form of a distinctive red heart-shaped 45-RPM vinyl record (advertised as "the single that gets to the heart of the matter"), now a collector's item frequently seen on eBay. (The What You Won't Do for Love album also received a novelty release on yellow vinyl.)

While the original song still receives frequent airplay today, it has been covered, re-made (once, in 1998, by Caldwell himself) and sampled many times since 1978. Go West's version rose high in the adult contemporary charts, and Tupac Shakur's "Do for Love," which samples the lyric, also attained a good deal of popularity.

The Cat in the Hat through August Moon

Caldwell's sophomore period involved the considerable task of following up such a staggering success as What You Won't Do for Love; during this time, his Japanese audience steadily eclipsed his American one. The Cat in the Hat (1980) and Carry On (1982), were artistic improvements upon the first album, but did not match its commercial success. They were, however, bestsellers in Japan -- The Cat went platinum and Carry On gold -- and sealed Bobby's reputation as a superstar in that country.

1983 saw Bobby Caldwell put out August Moon, a project bearing a much more rock- than soul-oriented sound, in Japan only; it was released in the United States in the 1990s.

Heart of Mine through Where is Love

Though August Moon went gold, Caldwell subsequently took a hiatus from recording, instead directing his efforts toward composing songs for other performers, most notably "Heart of Mine" for Boz Scaggs, "Next Time I Fall" for Amy Grant and Peter Cetera, "Janet" for the Commodores and "All or Nothing at All" for Al Jarreau. Ironically, these songs became bigger hits when Caldwell himself later recorded them on his 1989 comeback album Heart of Mine.

Caldwell sold albums at a steady pace throughout the 1990s, producing 1991's Stuck on You, recorded with a sixty-piece orchestra, and 1993's Where is Love, the latter having been recorded with musicians who had previously played with Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett along with a twenty-four piece orchestra.

During this period, the airplay of his music shifted from the declining R&B radio format to the then-nascent smooth jazz stations. Caldwell is frequently cited as a staple of the genre, with "What You Won't Do for Love" as well as lesser-known singles such as "Real Thing", "All or Nothing at All" (both from Heart of Mine) still featuring prominently on programmers' playlists.

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