"She's on the Left" by Jeffrey Osborne

Song#:  3618

Date:  08/20/1988

Debut:  95

Peak:  48

Weeks:  11

Genre:  R&B, Funk

Pop Bits:  By this point in time, Osborne had collected up three consecutive gold albums that generated eight R&B Top 10 hits. His singles would do less well on the Pop chart, but he did manage to earn seven Pop Top 40 entries including his best solo effort, 1986's "You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song)," which reached #13 (#2 R&B/#2 AC). Then in between albums in 1987, Osborne was chosen as Dionne Warwick's duet partner for her single "Love Power." That song would reach #12 at Pop to become Osborne's biggest overall hit on that chart (#5 R&B/#1 AC). Hoping to finally crack the Pop Top 10, Osborne released this first single from his fifth album One Love - One Dream. The song would end up becoming Osborne's first and only #1 on the R&B chart and his third Top 10 at Dance (#6). Unfortunately, the tune stalled on the Pop chart shy of the Top 40. It would end up being Osborne's final single to reach the Pop chart. Despite the song's success at R&B and Dance, the album would stall at #12 R&B (#86 Pop) to become his first to miss the Top 10. It would also fail to reach gold level sales.

ReduxReview:  It was a shame that Osborne wasn't able to crack the Pop Top 10. He had a few singles that should have, such as "Stay with Me Tonight," but for some reason he just couldn't secure enough of a mainstream audience to get him over the line. This was another good tune from Osborne and it got him to the top of the R&B chart, but once again he got overlooked at Pop. The tune may not exactly have been Pop Top 10 material (it needed a stronger, more forceful hook), but it should have easily made the Top 40, if not the Top 20. Osborne's brand of pop/AC soul would lose favor as the 90s, so this really was his last gasp at getting that one big crossover hit.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  After five albums with A&M Records, Osborn would move over to Arista for his sixth effort, 1990's Only Human. It would return him to the R&B Top 10 (#9) thanks to the #3 R&B title track along with another Top 20 entry. However, that apparently wasn't enough for Arista and is seems Osborne was left without a contract. Save for a 1997 Christmas album, Osborne wouldn't put out a new studio album until 2000. He would continue to record and tour over the years and in 2018 would release his eleventh studio album Worth It All. The LP featured the #12 AC title track.

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