"I Specialize in Love" is a song written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher. Mixed by Tee Scott, the song was a club hit in the early 1980s when recorded by American singer Sharon Brown, the niece of songwriter Phil Medley. Released as a single in March 1982, by Profile Records, it spent three weeks at number two on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart,Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003, (Record Research Inc.), page 46. her only song to reach this survey. The single also charted on the UK Singles Chart, becoming an international club hit. A remixed version of the song was released in 1994, entering the UK Singles Chart for a second time.
Brian Chin of Billboard called "I Specialize in Love" a "very skillful pastiche of a whole passel of recent street and fusion sounds, along with a simple rap."Dance Trax (with Brian Chin) (Billboard) Vol. 94 (42). Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Oct 23, 1982. p. 34
Exposé version
Ten years later, the American girl group Exposé included a cover version of the song on its 1992 self-titled studio album. This version featured lead vocals by Ann Curless, Jeanette Jurado and Kelly Moneymaker. It was produced by DNA (musicians Nick Batt and Neal Slateford), which had scored a hit in 1990 for themselves and Suzanne Vega when the group remixed Vega's song "Tom's Diner." Although this version of "I Specialize in Love" was not formally released as a single from the album Exposé, it was issued as a promotional 12" single to dance clubs in 1995 when various remixes of the song by Darrin Friedman were included on the CD Maxi-single release of "I'll Say Good-bye for the Two of Us." This latter song was taken from the soundtrack of the 1995 film Free Willy 2, and although both songs failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "I Specialize in Love" became a top-ten single on the Billboard Club Play chart again, peaking at #6.Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003, (Record Research Inc.), p. 94. It also reached the top twenty on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales chart in December of that year.Exposé 12" Sales Chart info Billboard.com. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
Track listing Sharon Brown version 12" promo US: Profile, UK: Virgin / 1982 A - "I Specialize In Love" (7:16) B - "I Specialize In Love" (instrumental) (6:00)
Exposé version 12" promo US: Arista / 1995 A1 - "I Specialize in Love" Spike Club Mix I (7:16) A2 - "I Specialize in Love" Spike Dub (6:45) B1 - "I Specialize in Love" Spike Club Mix II (8:02) B2 - "I Specialize in Love" Spike Classic Mix (6:13)
Charts Sharon Brown version Chart (1982)PeakpositionU.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play2UK Singles Chart38U.S. BillboardHot Soul Singles51Netherlands21
Exposé version Chart (1995)PeakpositionU.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play6U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales20
References
External links 1982 Sharon Brown 12" single discogs.com 1995 Exposé 12" single discogs.com