Songofhteday 9/20/14 - Here I lay all along tossin turnin, longing for some of your....

Force M.D.'s - "Tender Love"
from the albums Chillin' (1985) and Krush Groove (Original Soundtrack) (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11 

Today's Song of the Day comes from the vocal soul group Force M.D.'s, who came together in Staten Island in the early 80's (as the L.D.'s). With three brothers (Antoine, Khalil, and Stevie Lundy) and their uncle Jessie Lee forming the core of the group, the renamed act first performed their blend of hip-hop and doo-wop on the streets of New York, and that sound can be heard on their first minor R&B hit single "Let Me Love You", which went to #49 on the soul chart in 1984. Reminiscent of the early New Edition (who were between their indie debut and MCA signing at that time), the next single, "Tears", was more traditional, and broke the group on R&B radio, climbing to #5 on that genre chart and almost making the Hot 100 in Billboard, "bubbling under" at #102. They had four songs from their debut album on dance label Tommy Boy make the top half of that list, setting their profile up for their next release.

Then came along their inclusion in the pseudo-documentary on Def Jam records, Krush Groove, not with their appearance (they didn't make the film), but their song "Tender Love". Written and produced by a fresh-outta-the-Time Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the ballad spotlighted their voices, cutting out the percussion and laying their vocals on a dreamy synth melody that predicted their own "Let's Wait Awhile" and "Come Back To Me" with Janet Jackson. The simplicity of the record is so freakin' divine amongst the busy arrangements of the current freestyle and new wave records it was being played against, and audiences and record buyers responded...

"Tender Love" became Force MD's first and so-far last big pop hit, going to the top ten in the U.S. in April of 1986. The single also made it to #4 on the R&B, and crossed over to its biggest success on adult contemporary (or 'easy listening') radio, peaking at #2. Internationally, the single made the UK top-40 as well at #23.

With the group's next album, Touch & Go, they scored their first R&B #1 hit with the sublime "Love Is A House", but the song stalled down at #78 on the pop chart, and its follow-up, the title track, didn't even show despite reaching #10 R&B. The record did give them their only trip on the dance club chart with "Deep Check" which spent a week on that list at #48. A fourth album caught their retro styling and smooth R&B shadowed by the growing popularity of new jack swing, with a couple of moderate soul hits like "Are You Really Real?" (#23), which attempted to conform to the style, and in a way brought their original hip-hop/soul blend back. In 1992, a single release of a Touch & Go album track, "Your Love Drives Me Crazy" from their greatest hits set, became their most record chart hit (#78).

With the passing of a couple members including brother Antoine from ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease (yes, the ice bucket one), the rest of Force MDs reunited and released an album in 2000, and continue to tour with brothers Khalil and Stevie with new member Damen Heyward.

But despite their pop "one-hit-wonder" tag some people give them, the group deserved much better, and "Tender Love" is truly one of the greatest of the Jam/Lewis songs in its directness and simple beauty.

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One of the many artists to cover "Tender Love" is Jordan Knight on his 2006 Love Songs album...

Meanwhile, rap group Bone Thugz-N-Harmony interpolated the dub mix from the record on their "Days Of Our Lives" from the Set It Off soundtrack, which went to #12 on the rap chart in 1996..

 And here's a clip of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis talking about "Tender Love"..

Up tomorrow: British symphonic rock vets telephone across the Atlantic.