Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Forever Your Girl
1988 studio album by Paula Abdul From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Forever Your Girl is the debut album by American singer Paula Abdul. It was released in June 13, 1988 through Virgin Records.[a] The album was Abdul's breakthrough into the music industry after being a choreographer for high-profile clients including the California Raisins, George Michael, ZZ Top, Duran Duran and most notably Janet Jackson. At the time it was the most successful debut album and was the first time that a female artist scored four US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles from her first album. It is currently certified 7× Platinum by the RIAA.
Remove ads
Background
In 1987, Abdul, who had built up her professional reputation as a choreographer for the Los Angeles Lakers and high-profile artists including George Michael, ZZ Top, Duran Duran and Janet Jackson, recorded a demo using her savings.[4] Soon thereafter, she was signed to Virgin Records by Jeff Ayeroff, who had worked in marketing at A&M Records with Janet Jackson. Although she was a skilled dancer and choreographer, Abdul's vocal abilities were unimpressive, and with Ayeroff's support, she underwent training for her mezzo-soprano voice.[5][6] Ayeroff recalled signing Abdul to a recording contract years later, stating: "She said, 'I can sing, you know. I want to do an album.' Paula's in our industry. Here's someone with a personality and she's gorgeous, and she can dance. If she can sing, she could be a star. So she went into the studio and cut a demo record and she could sing."[7] The album was made on a budget of $72,000.[8]
Remove ads
Release and reception
Summarize
Perspective
On October 7, 1989, 64 weeks after its July 23, 1988, debut on the chart, Forever Your Girl hit number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, the longest an album was on the market before hitting number one.[15] The album was eventually certified seven times Platinum in the US by the RIAA and has sold over 12 million copies worldwide.[16] It also includes four number one Billboard Hot 100 singles: "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted", and "Opposites Attract",[16] which places Forever Your Girl in a tie (with several other artists) for second most number-one songs from a single album, and ties it for the most number ones in a debut album. Forever Your Girl is also one of nine albums to have a minimum of four songs reach number one on the U.S. charts. She was the first female artist to have four number one singles from a debut album. "The Way That You Love Me" reached number three, and "Knocked Out" reached number 41.
The album also reached number four on the R&B album chart, while "Straight Up", "Opposites Attract", "Knocked Out", and "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" all reached the top 10 of the R&B tracks chart.
After a slow start, the album's third single "Straight Up" helped the album breakout in mid 1989 after its initial release. Forever Your Girl hit number one for the first time on October 7, 1989. After the release of the single "Opposites Attract", the album shot to number one again on February 3, 1990, and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks.
By 1998, Billboard magazine reported that Forever Your Girl was the most successful album released by the Virgin Records label.[17]
The Los Angeles Daily News called the album "a fine starmaker vehicle", stating that Abdul "applies a come-hither whisper to a likable batch of melodies... What's frustrating is that Abdul's voice is buried beneath bustling arrangements on tunes like 'Opposites Attract' and 'Knocked Out'."[12]
Remove ads
Accolades
Track listing
Remove ads
Personnel
Summarize
Perspective
Adapted from AllMusic.[18]
- Paula Abdul – lead vocals
- Marvin Gunn and Bruce DeShazer AKA Tony Christin – backing vocals
- Peter Arata – mixing assistant
- Babyface – keyboards, producer, backing vocals
- Glen Ballard – drums, producer, programming
- Russ Bracher – engineer
- Pattie Brooks – backing vocals
- Wally Buck – engineer
- Francis Buckley – engineer, mixing
- Annette Cisneros – assistant engineer
- Dave Cochran – guitar, backing vocals
- Keith "KC" Cohen – mixing, producer
- Delisa Davis – backing vocals
- Tami Day – backing vocals
- Jimmy Demers – backing vocals
- Eddie M. – saxophone on "I Need You"
- Al Fleming – assistant engineer
- Basil Fung – guitar
- Jon Gass – engineer, mixing
- Bobby Gonzales – guitar
- Danny Grigsby – assistant engineer
- Evelyn Halus – backing vocals
- Dann Huff – guitar
- Tim Jaquette – engineer, mixing
- Jesse Johnson – drums, keyboards, producer
- Cliff Jones – assistant engineer, engineer
- Kayo – synthesizer, synthesizer bass
- Oliver Leiber – arranger, drum programming, guitar, keyboards, producer, programming
- Jeff Lorber – drum programming, engineer, guest artist, keyboards, producer
- Yvette Marine – backing vocals
- Pat McDougal – assistant engineer
- Lucia Newell – backing vocals
- Ricky P. – keyboards
- Pebbles – guest artist, backing vocals
- L.A. Reid – drums, guest artist, percussion programming, producer
- Angel Rogers – backing vocals
- Josh Schneider – assistant engineer
- Daryl Simmons – backing vocals
- Bob Somma – guitar
- St. Paul – arranger, bass, keyboards, Organ, vocoder
- Kendall Stubbs – engineer
- Randy Weber – programming, synthesizer
- Steve Weise – engineer
- Troy Williams – alto saxophone on "Forever Your Girl"
- Wild Pair – vocals, backing vocals
Remove ads
Charts
Summarize
Perspective
Remove ads
Certifications
Remove ads
See also
Notes
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads