Rufus & Chaka Khan ~ Ain't Nobody 1983 Funky Purrfection Version

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The music world is really small!

David "Hawk" Wolinski had worked with Minnie Riperton when he met Michael Sembello backstage at a Stevie Wonder concert in Philadelphia. They began writing songs together, when he came up with "this goofy, little stupid beginning idea" that morphed into music where the bass did not hit the same time as the drum giving the song an original but incredibly funky sound. Roger Linn, a guitarist who had invented a drum synthesizer was nearly invited to join Rufus but as he did not sing, was not considered further. Wolinski used his invention to complete "Ain't Nobody" and the song practically wrote itself after that.

Tony Maiden was the only hold out about recording the song. He felt that he was old school and not comfortable with the new technology, but went along with it as long as it did not take too much time. Wolinski states that (Maiden) "was right. It's kind of ironic, I never realized it (computers) would take over so completely, that you'd get people who don't know how to play that became the rule instead of the exception. And my feelings about R&B have completely changed. It's a tragedy what has happened to music."

He played it for Glenn Frey, who smelled a major hit as did Quincy Jones, who wanted the song for Michael Jackson but Hawk had already promised producer Russ Titleman that he would give the song to Rufus and declined the offer. It was an uphill battle to get the band to record the song since it was so synth based which did not sit well with the old school instrumentalists in the band. A vote was taken and the song was included.

Rufus had just signed with Warner and their debut release was a Live album "Stompin' At The Savoy" that had them run through their greatest hits repertoire on three sides and side 4 had two new studio songs, "One Million Kisses" and "Ain't Nobody". While "Ain't Nobody" topped the R&B survey for one week, it peaked at #22 on the Hot100, while the follow up "One Million Kisses" eked its way to #37 R&B but completely missed the Hot100.

Then, when it came time to release the first single, the label did not want to go for "Ain't Nobody". That's When Wolinski threatened to give the song to Michael Jackson instead so the label sucked it up and put it out, scoring an R&B #1 and a #22 pop hit in the spring of 1983.
Category
Funky