Barry White Has 'Staying Power' With New Album, Book, And Label

06/21/1999 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(6/21/99, 1 p.m. PDT) - Barry White, the soul legend who was honored in the recent Fun Lovin' Criminals song "Love Unlimited," is back, along with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, to save more lives with a new album on a new label and with a forthcoming autobiography.

White's new album, Staying Power, will be released on July 27 on Private Music, a label that's probably best known as the former home of new age king Yanni.

The album, White's first in five years, was produced and arranged by the deep-voiced Romeo of soul and Jack Perry. Guests include Chaka Khan, Gerald Albright, Lisa Stansfield, and Sean "Puffy" Combs. The latter remixed White's version of the Sly & the Family Stone classic "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)," which first appeared on the EdTV soundtrack. Aside from the Sly Stone cover, White also serves up his interpretation of War's 1975 hit "Low Rider" on Staying Power.

As if the album weren't enough, White's autobiography, titled Love Unlimited, is due Oct. 5 on Broadway/ Random House. White also has plans to tour the U.S. this summer and Europe in the fall.

White is best known for the 1974 chart-topping album Can't Get Enough, which featured such hits as "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe" and "You're The First, The Last, My Everything." However, he showed he still has staying power in the '90s with the 1994 album The Icon Is Love, which reached the top 20 of the album chart.

Although White's new label made its name with Yanni, in recent years Private Music has become a home for veteran soul singers, including Peabo Bryson, James Ingram, and Jeffrey Osborne, while Yanni has moved on to Virgin.

Features on Gerald Albright, Puff Daddy, and James Ingram are available on LAUNCH.com.

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