"Love of a Lifetime" by Chaka Khan

Song#:  2795
Date:  07/12/1986
Debut:  85
Peak:  53
Weeks:  12
Genre:  R&B, Dance-Pop



Pop Bits:  Khan hit it big as a solo artist when her Prince-penned 1984 single "I Feel for You" made it to #3 Pop (#1 R&B/#1 Dance). Her album of the same name would be a platinum seller and expectations were high for her follow-up. Apparently, no expense was spared for the project as it boasted at least nine producers and over twenty-four songwriters. Arif Mardin, who oversaw I Feel for You, would be on board again to executive produce the new project titled Destiny. To get the ball rolling, this first single from the LP was issued out. It was co-written and co-produced by Scritti Politti members Green Gartside and David Gamson. Unfortunately, the song just didn't fully catch fire and it stalled early at R&B (#21) while not even cracking the top half of the Pop chart. A remix of the tune did a bit better at Dance getting to #11. It was not a great start to the album and to make matters worse, this would be the only song from the album to reach the Pop chart. Without a major hit to promote it, the LP stopped at #72 on the Pop chart and #25 at R&B. It would fail to even reach gold level sales.

ReduxReview:  As the old saying goes - too many cooks... Everyone involved just tried way too hard to make the album a hit. It was all so forced and inconsistent. None of the songs were actually bad, but none rose to the dizzying heights of "I Feel for You." This tune was fine. Gartside and Gamson's blue-eyed soul mixed with dance-pop wouldn't have been out of place on Madonna's True Blue album, but it just seemed underwhelming for a vocalist like Chaka Khan. It just didn't give her a chance to shine. In fact, the whole album had a lot of modern technical wizardry that almost made Khan's voice secondary. In the end, this song just wasn't very memorable and it practically sank the album.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) Although this song was the first official single from the album, another track on the LP had already been released as a single. Khan recorded the song "The Other Side of the World" for the soundtrack to the film White Nights. It was released earlier in '86 as the second single from the soundtrack. The song was written by Genesis member/Mike + the Mechanics leader Mike Rutherford along with B.A. Robertson. The tune failed to make the Pop chart but did make a brief appearance on the R&B chart at #81.  2) Two more singles would be released from the album. "Tight Fit" would make it to #28 at R&B and "Earth to Mickey" would scrape the chart at #93.

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