AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Narada Michael Walden

Artist:Narada Michael Walden
Song:I Shoulda Loved Ya
Album:Ecstasy's Dance: The Best Of Narada Michael Walden




Narada Michael Walden was one of the most successful record producers of the 80s and he won the 1987 Producer Of The Year Grammy. But before that he had success with his own recordings mostly on the R & B and dance charts. I Shoulda Loved Ya was the biggest of those hits. He was born Apr. 23, 1952 in Kalamazoo, MI and was given the name Narada when he became a disciple of Sri Chinmoy. In 1974, Walden was hired by John McLaughlin to replace drummer Billy Cobham in The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Walden played drums on Jeff Beck's 1976 landmark album Wired. He was also a member of Weather Report for the 1976 album Black Market and played on Weather Report bassist Jaco Pastorius' solo album. Then Walden signed a record deal with Atlantic Records. His first couple of albums were the kind of jazz fusion you might expect from Walden. When he had success on the R & B charts, he abandoned jazz with his third album Awakening and I Don't Want Nobody Else (To Dance With You) was his first top ten R & B hit. He continued this with the 1979 album The Dance Of Life. I Shoulda Loved Ya reached #4 on the R & B Singles chart and has been his biggest hit to date. Walden plays drums, keyboards, sings and produced and arranged the album. He uses mostly studio musicians. And one of those studio musicians, bassist TL Stevens, wrote I Shoulda Loved You with Walden and veteran lyricist Allee Willis. Willis has written many hits and has a Grammy for writing Neutron Dance for the 1985 film Beverly Hills Cop. Walden's big break as a producer came when he discovered and had a string of hits with teen R & B singer Stacy Lattisaw. This led to work with Aretha Franklin, Angela Bofill and Sister Sledge. And that led to Whitney Houston. Walden produced a lot of her early hits. And he also produced a lot of film soundtracks. His own recordings didn't do as well. And he was so busy he stopped recording his own albums in the late 80s. You can get all his hits on this comp. In the 90s, he produced Mariah Carey and Tevin Campbell among others and also won a 1993 Album Of The Year Grammy for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard. Walden has been less active in recent years but has released a new CD Thunder on his own label. He has his own recording studio and I'm sure he gets plenty of royalties. Here's Narada Michael Walden performing I Shoulda Loved Ya on Soul Train 1979.