Big Fun (Shalamar album) explained

Big Fun
Type:	Studio
Artist:	Shalamar
Cover:	Shalamarbigfun.jpg
Released:	August 30, 1979
Recorded:	1979 at Studio Masters, Los Angeles, CA, Jack Clement Studios, Nashville, TN
Genre:	Pop, disco, R&B
Length:	37:07
Label:	SOLAR
Producer:	Leon Sylvers III
Prev Title:	Disco Gardens
Prev Year:	1978
Next Title:	Three for Love
Next Year:	1980

Big Fun is the third album by the American musical group Shalamar, released in 1979 through SOLAR Records. Big Fun was produced by Leon Sylvers III and is the first album to feature what is considered the 'classic' Shalamar line-up (Jeffrey Daniel, Howard Hewett and Jody Watley), with Hewett having replaced Gerald Brown. The album features the group's most successful hit on the Hot 100 pop chart, "The Second Time Around".

Big Fun has been certified Gold in the United States for sales of over 500,000. It peaked at #4 on the R&B chart and #23 on the Billboard chart (Shalamar's highest-placing album on this chart). In the UK it reached #45.

In 2002, Big Fun was re-released by Sanctuary Records in the United Kingdom in a two-for-one CD format with Shalamar's following album Three for Love.

The song "I Owe You One" was sampled in Raw Man's "Beautiful", and Le Knight Club's "Mosquito".

Reception

The New York Times called the album "a very eclectic blend of pop hooks and light disco with funk trimmings."^[1] AllMusic rated the album four out of five stars.^[2] Writer Colin Larkin rated it three out of five.^[3]

The album sold 625,000+ units as of July 1982. Its single "The Second Time Around" sold around 1.8 million units.^[4]

Personnel

Shalamar

Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniel, Howard Hewett: lead and backing vocals

Musical Personnel

• Kevin Spencer: keyboards, clavinet
• William Shelby: keyboards, clavinet, Fender Rhodes
• Kossi Gardner: keyboards, Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ
• "Gip" Nobels, Gene Dozier, Joey Gallo, John Barnes, Ron Artists: keyboards
• Ernest Biles, James Davis: bass
• Leon Sylvers III

bass, percussion

• Ernest Reed, Fred Rheimert, Steve Shockley: guitars
• Freeman Brown, Gerald Thompson, Wardell Potts: drums
• Greg "Popeye" Dawkins: congas
• Fred Lewis: percussion
• Christine Ermacoff, Edgar Lustgarten, Harry Shlutz, Marie Fera: cellos
• Brian Leanord, David Johnson, Jerry Vinci, Ilkka Talvi, Irma Newman, Norman Carr, Norman Leonard, Reginald Hill, Ronald Fulsom, Sheldon Sanou: violins

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1979–1980)	Peak position
US Billboard 200^[5]	23
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)^[6]	4

Year-end charts

Chart (1980)	Position
US Billboard 200^[7]	56
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)^[8]	6

Single

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1979	I Owe You One	Hot Soul Singles	60
1980	The Second Time Around	Billboard Hot 100	8
1980	The Second Time Around	Hot Soul Singles	1
1980	Right in the Socket	Hot Soul Singles	22

External links

• Shalamar-Big Fun at Discogs

Notes and References

1. News: Holden . Stephen . Solar Could Be the Motown of the 80's . The New York Times . 23 Mar 1980 . D25.
2. News: Henderson. Alex. Shalamar – Big Fun . AllMusic. December 25, 2014.
3. Encyclopedia: Shalamar . The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music . December 14, 2017 . Larkin . Colin . 2002 . Colin Larkin (writer) . 395. 9781852279479 .
4. Stephen . Gayle . July 1982 . Solar Empire Strikes Gold . Black Enterprise . 40 . December 14, 2017 . Google Books .
5. Web site: Shalamar, TLP. Billboard. June 27, 2021. subscription.
6. Web site: Shalamar, BLP. Billboard. June 27, 2021. subscription.
7. Web site: Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1980. Billboard. June 27, 2021.
8. Web site: Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 1980. Billboard. June 27, 2021.