"Perfect Combination" by Stacy Lattisaw & Johnny Gill

Song#:  1822
Date:  03/10/1984
Debut:  95
Peak:  75
Weeks:  9
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  Teen star Lattisaw had been posting hits on the R&B chart since 1980. Four of her songs crossed over to Pop with "Let Me Be Your Angel" doing the best getting to #21.With five albums under her belt, Lattisaw was ready for a sixth. But instead of another solo outing, Lattisaw was paired up with another teenage vocalist, Johnny Gill. With Narada Michael Walden co-writing most of the songs and producing, the duo recorded the LP Perfect Combination. This title track served as the album's first single. It was just able to reach the R&B Top 10 at #10. It got enough attention to crossover to the Pop chart where it hung around the bottom quarter for a couple of months. Two more singles from the LP would be lower-level R&B entries, but both would miss the Pop chart. The album would be the only one from the duo, however Gill would team up with Lattisaw for a song from her 1989 album What You Need. The track "Where Do We Go from Here" would be issued as the LP's second single and it would hit #1 on the R&B chart.

ReduxReview:  It's kind of odd how Lattisaw still sounds like a young teen yet a seventeen-year-old Gill sounds like someone twice his age. His deeper voice is a good foil for Lattisaw's bright tone. Walden was getting better at songwriting and this age-appropriate ballad fit the pair quite well. It's not an outstanding song, but it has a good chorus and both singers do their best to boost it up a level.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  It was actually Lattisaw who "discovered" Gill. The pair were childhood friends and sensing that Gill had talent, Lattisaw encouraged him to record a demo. The tape made its way around Atlantic Records (most likely thanks to Lattisaw) and Gill ended up getting signed to their subsidiary Cotillion, which was also conveniently Lattisaw's label. Gill issued a solo debut in 1983 and would up with a couple of mid-charting R&B singles. Then came the duet album with Lattisaw, which gave Gill his first R&B Top 10 hit. After one more solo album in 1985, Gill then got the chance to join New Edition in 1987. When that group took a hiatus in 1989, Gill released a self-titled solo disc. It would be a big hit the following year when the single "Rub You the Right Way" would reach #1 R&B and #3 Pop.

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