I'm In Love Again | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by Patti LaBelle | ||||
Released | November 25, 1983 | |||
Recorded | 1982-1983 | |||
Genre | Soul, urban contemporary, R&B, post-disco, quiet storm, funk, soul jazz | |||
Length | 38:41 | |||
Label | Philadelphia Int'l / CBS | |||
Producer | Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, Bunny Sigler, Cecil Womack, Dexter Wansel, Cynthia Biggs, Joseph B. Jefferson | |||
Patti LaBelle chronology | ||||
|
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
Rolling Stone | |
Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews |
I'm In Love Again is the sixth solo album released by American recording artist Patti LaBelle in 1983. LaBelle's commercial breakthrough, it featured her first top ten R&B hits, "Love, Need and Want You" and "If Only You Knew", the latter topping the R&B chart in early 1984. It was later certified gold for selling half a million copies and paved the way for her pop breakthrough in late 1984 with the dance hit "New Attitude".
In 1977, Patti LaBelle began her solo career after sixteen years with the group Labelle. While her debut album, released on Epic, proved successful, her three follow-ups failed to generate similar success. In 1981, when her Epic contract expired, she signed with Philadelphia International Records, and released the album, The Spirit's in It, which produced some success and convinced the label to come up with a follow-up. LaBelle began recording her second PIR album in 1982 at the famed Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia with producers Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Dexter Wansel.
Gamble & Huff, in executive producing charge of LaBelle's recording, searched to find songs that could give the powerhouse soul singer a charted smash hit, noting that the singer hadn't had a major hit since the release of her 1974 classic, "Lady Marmalade". Of her twelve solo single releases, only "I Don't Go Shopping", "It's a Joy to Have Your Love" and "It's Alright with Me" charted above the top 40 on the R&B charts, with "I Don't Go Shopping" becoming a top 30 hit. At around the same time, LaBelle kept herself busy by participating in Broadway plays and various musical theatre productions, including Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf and Working, as well as filming her role on the film, A Soldier's Story, which halted the second album's production. That same year, LaBelle had undergone plastic surgery treatment on her nose, to which she claimed, was only to "sing higher notes". Only did the singer later admitted that she had the surgery for "vanity" reasons and while she said she loved the new nose, regretted having it done.