Songoftheday 2/16/17 - Somebody told me there'd be trouble at home, 'cause we never talk a lot when we spend time alone...
from the album Tender Lover (1989)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
The song of the day for today comes from R&B singer/songwriter/producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, whose second solo album Tender Lover had landed him a pair of #1 soul hits with "It's No Crime" (#7 pop) and the title track (#14 pop). The third single released from the record would be the slow jam "Whip Appeal", written by Babyface with singer Perri "Pebbles" Reid, who had already had a couple of top ten pop hits under her belt as well (and was married to Kenny's production partner L.A. Reid). Lasciviously using the "whip" word without giving any detail as to what is making their bedroom funky, the lyrics nevertheless oddly have him crooning "whip all your sweet sad lovin' on me". Holly Robinson (from 21 Jump Street) was featured in the video...
"Whip Appeal" became the highest-charting pop hit and second top-ten hit from Tender Lover in April of 1990. The song climbed as high as #2 on Billboard's R&B chart, while it crossed over to score Babyface his first Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio hit at #36. Internationally, the single popped into the Canadian top-40 at #39. The single would be nominated for a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal in 1991, losing out to Luther Vandross' "Here And Now".
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Here's Babyface performing the song live on the Arsenio Hall show...
Up tomorrow: Some soft rock ambrosia from a dance-pop duo with a name don't you forget about.
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