"Turn Your Love Around" is a song by George Benson. The song was written by Bill Champlin of Chicago, Steve Lukather of Toto and producer and guitarist Jay Graydon to help fill out Benson's 1981 greatest hits album, The George Benson Collection. The song won a Best R&B Song Grammy Award at the 25th Grammy Awards in 1983 for Champlin, Graydon, and Lukather as its co-writers.
Background The inspiration for the song came to Graydon in the bathroom. He explained to Songfacts, "'Turn Your Love Around' was a gift, and it's the gift that keeps giving. I was in the bathroom when I came up with the melody, and I was sitting down, if you get my drift. Well, I got off the can as fast as I could and got to a cassette machine so I wouldn't forget it. George Benson was coming in town Tuesday, so I had four days to come up with a song for The George Benson Collection. And I was gettin' nothing. And then bang! I just came up with this melody for the chorus when I was in the bathroom." The song was one of the first pop hits to use a Linn LM-1 drum machine, programmed by the session drummer Jeff Porcaro.
Personnel George Benson – lead vocals Jai Winding – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes David Foster – synthesizer Jay Graydon – synthesizer, guitars, arrangements David Paich – synthesizer bass Jeff Porcaro – Linn LM-1 drum programming Mike Baird – cymbals Gary Herbig – saxophone, flutes Bill Reichenbach Jr. – trombone Chuck Findley – trumpet Jerry Hey – trumpet, horn arrangements Bill Champlin – backing vocals Venette Gloud – backing vocals Carmen Twillie – backing vocals
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (1981–1982) Peakposition Australia (Kent Music Report)21 Canada Adult Contemporary5 New Zealand13South Africa (Springbok)14 US Billboard Hot 1005 US Billboard Adult Contemporary9 US Billboard R&B Singles1 US Cash Box Top 100 5
Year-end charts +Annual chart rankings for "Turn Your Love Around" Chart (1981) RankAustralia (Kent Music Report)142Italy (Musica e dischi)100US Cash Box Top 10070 Chart (1982) RankUS Billboard Hot 10027
"Turn Your Love Around" reached number one on the soul singles chart and number five on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in early 1982, as well as the top ten on the jazz chart. It was ranked as the 27th biggest hit of 1982. In Canada, the song spent two weeks at number 10.
Tony Di Bart version
In 1995, Tony Di Bart recorded a cover version of "Turn Your Love Around" which appeared on the album Falling for You. Compared to the original, this version is Eurodance-heavy. In addition to the studio album, it is also included on the compilation Dance Now! 14.
Charts Chart (1996)PeakpositionUK Singles (OCC)66Netherlands44Belgium40
Sampling The song was sampled in the album version of Lil' Kim's song "Not Tonight", in Spice 1's "The Thug in Me", in the Japanese hit song "Da.Yo.Ne." by East End X Yuri in 1994, and in "My Love" by Mercedes featuring Mr. Serv-On in 1999.
References
External links
"Turn Your Love Around" [ Song Review] on AllMusic