Songoftheday 1/18/15 - With all my heart I love you baby, stay with me and you will see my arms will hold you baby...

(Ed. Note: I've been doing my "song of the day" on this blog since the Spring of 2012, and this is my 1000th one. I want to thank the thousands of people that has popped over here for some reason or another to check out my little corner of the interwebs. You're the awesome)

"Sweet Love" - Anita Baker
from the album Rapture (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11

Today's Song of the Day comes from "quiet storm" lite jazz/soul singer Anita Baker, who got her start as the vocalist in the Detroit band Chapter 8. They had a top-40 R&B hit back in 1979 with "Ready For Your Love", but after a lack of a follow-up, Anita left in 1983, landing a minor solo hit with the country-sounding "No More Tears" which stopped at the midway point on the R&B chart at #47. Her next single, "Angel", did much better, climbing all the way to #5 on the soul list, but didn't get any other attention. After a fight to be released from her original label, Anita signed with Elektra Records and enlisted her former Chapter 8 bandmate Michael Powell to record her second solo album Rapture. With a more bright but decidedly soulful and tight set of eight songs, Rapture got off to a slow start as the first single, the album closer "Watch Your Step", became a moderate R&B hit at #23. But with her second release from the record, "Sweet Love", everything changed. Not only did soul radio jump on the single, but mainstream pop stations finally showed some love. Written by Baker with Louis Johnson (of the duo Brothers Johnson) and Gary Bias, "Sweet Love" was an absolute joy to hear on the radio, with lush piano and bass providing the bedding for Anita's expressive but still still restrained vocals...

"Sweet Love" reached the top-10 on the American pop chart in November of 1986. The single also crossed over to both the R&B chart where it spent two weeks at #2, and the adult contemporary radio list, peaking at #3. Internationally, the record made the top-10 in Ireland and #13 in the UK, while landing right below the top-20 in Canada. The following year, Anita would grab two Grammys, was this song winning Best R&B Song and the entire album claiming Best R&B Female Vocal.

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Here's Anita performing live on TV...