Change

Change is an Italian-American post-disco group formed in Bologna, Italy, in 1979 by businessman and executive producer Jacques Fred Petrus (1948–1987) and Mauro Malavasi (born 1957). They were heavily influenced by the disco band Chic.

The current incarnation of the group formed in 2018.

Change was initially formed in early 1979 as a studio band with a revolving stable of musicians, led by businessman and executive producer Jacques Fred Petrus, with the majority of songwriting and production carried out by Mauro Malavasi and Davide Romani.

The band’s dual Italian and American identity was a result of a production system in which the music, excepting the vocals, were written and recorded by Italian collaborators in studios such as Fonoprint Studios, Bologna, Italy.

These backing tracks were then sent to the USA where vocals were added by American performers, before being mixed into finalised versions in major studios such as the Power Station in New York City.

The band’s debut album, The Glow of Love, was released on Ray Caviano’s label, RFC Records (distributed by Warner Bros.) in 1980.

It was composed by a small team of writers consisting of Romani, Malavasi, Paolo Gianolio (lead guitarist), Tanyayette Willoughby, Paul Slade, and Wayne Garfield.

The first single was the million seller “A Lover’s Holiday” featuring the ad lib stylings of Zachary Sanders, known then for his work on Schoolhouse Rock.

The follow-up hits from the album, “Searching” and the title song, feature lead vocals by Luther Vandross who had yet to come to prominence.

The three songs combined set an all-time record, spending nine weeks at #1 on Billboard‘s Club Play Singles chart, enough to make it the #1 Disco recording of the year, and a strong seller in the U.S. It also made the Pop Top 40 that summer. The success of “Searching” and “The Glow of Love” exposed Luther’s voice to the mainstream, and led to a successful solo career soon afterward.

At the time The Glow of Love was released, the group also drew comparisons to another Disco act at the time, Chic, who were not only Change’s labelmates at Atlantic Records in the US, but also shared their backing vocalists.

The follow-up album Miracles was released in 1981. It was created by the same collection of writers and producers as had worked on the debut album.

Due to contractual differences, Vandross was unable to sing lead vocals on any of the album’s tracks, and only performed backing vocals on select songs. After Miracles, Vandross continued to provide backing vocals for the group until 1981, when he left Change to pursue his solo career.

Petrus and Malavasi signed up James ‘Crab’ Robinson to replace Vandross, owing to his ability to perform in a similar vocal style. Robinson shared vocals with Diva Gray for the album.

Miracles was released to a similar level of success as the début, though it did not manage to produce a mainstream crossover hit such as “A Lover’s Holiday.” The three singles from the album, “Paradise,” “Hold Tight,” and “Heaven of My Life” all reached number one on the Billboard Club Play Singles chart in 1981.

Change’s 1982 album Sharing Your Love moved the band further away from disco and club music and into genres such as R&B and Funk. The lead single, “The Very Best in You,” was one of the foremost examples of the group’s take on R&B. The album also marked a new process in the writing of the band’s albums.

The team behind the first albums contributing less, instead enlisting the efforts of a wide range of other writers.

Overall, the album continued a slowly declining trend in the commercial fortunes for the project, though the album sold well, and “The Very Best in You” was popular.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia