''Can't Slow Down'' is the second solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by American recording artist

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recor ...

. It was released on October 11, 1983, by

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

. It has sold over 20 million copies, and is Richie's best-selling album of all time. Five singles were released from ''Can't Slow Down'', all of which hit the top ten of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, including two that reached No. 1: "

All Night Long (All Night) "All Night Long (All Night)" is a hit single by American singer and songwriter Lionel Richie from 1983. Taken from his second solo album, '' Can't Slow Down'' (1983), it combined Richie's soulful Commodores style with Caribbean influences. This ...

" and "

Hello ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich ...

". The album also won the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'', music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album a "B+" and called it a "surprisingly solid" improvement, particularly with respect to Richie's ballad singing. He felt that its "jumpy international dance-pop" suited Richie more than the

Commodores Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

' funk had and predicted that, considering his "well-established appeal to white people," ''Can't Slow Down'' had the potential to become a "mini-''

Thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

''". Don Shewey of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' magazine gave the album four out of five stars and said that, although the ballads were monotonous, Richie successfully broadened his music for different listeners and drew on contemporary artists such as

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...

and

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

: "if you can't innovate, imitate. And the more honest they are about their sources, the better." In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

gave it four-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote that Richie took a conservative, melodic hook-based approach on an album whose hits showed him at his best and whose only weakness was a short running time. In 1999, '' Q'' magazine included ''Can't Slow Down'' on its list of the best Motown records of all time and stated, "Production values are high, his songwriting craft is at its peak and at least one track – the global smash 'All Night Long' – is an anthem to good times that makes the heart sing and feet twitch".

Commercial performance

The album reached No. 1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' album chart. It also spent 59 consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 (including the entire year of 1984) and a total of 160 weeks (over three years) on the ''Billboard'' 200. After being the third best-selling album of 1984, it went on to win a

for

, beating out such heavyweight contenders as '' Born in the U.S.A.'' by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...

and '' Purple Rain'' by

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...

. By 1986 the album had sold 15 million copies, eventually selling over 20 million. ''Can't Slow Down'' achieved the feat of having every single released hit the top ten on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Two songs, "

" and "

", both went to #1. Other hits include " Stuck on You" (US #3), "Running With the Night" (US #7), and "Penny Lover" (US #8). The ballad "The Only One" was a significant song from the album which was never released as a single, yet remains a popular staple of Richie's live performances. The single "Stuck on You" also reached No. 24 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart (now

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

20th anniversary deluxe edition

On May 6, 2003, a two-CD

deluxe edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

of the album was released in conjunction of the 20th anniversary of the album's original release date. This version included several mixes originally included on various

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

from the album at the end of the first CD, including instrumental versions of the 12-inch extended mixes of "

" and "

Running with the Night "Running with the Night" is the second single released from American singer and songwriter Lionel Richie's multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning 1983 album, '' Can't Slow Down''. Richie co-wrote the song with songwriter Cynthia Weil and co-pr ...

". Disc 2 showcased demo or alternate versions of all tracks from the original album, plus additional unfinished songs from the same sessions, all previously unreleased.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits lifted from the album's liner notes. Performers and musicians * Lionel Richie – lead vocals, vocal arrangements, rhythm arrangements (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8), backing vocals (2-7),

Yamaha GS-1 Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

(2, 3, 4), acoustic piano (8) * David Cochrane – synthesizers (1), synthesizer programming (1),

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder ...

(1), synth bass (1), guitars (1, 5), arrangements (1), backing vocals (2, 5, 7) *

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

– Yamaha GS-1 (2, 5), synthesizers (5), rhythm arrangements (5) *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthe ...

– synthesizers (3, 4, 7, 8), E-mu Emulator sampler (4), additional synthesizer (5), vocoder (7) * John Hobbs –

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

(3), electric piano (7) * Brian Banks – synthesizer programming (5) *

Anthony Marinelli Anthony Marinelli (born March 19, 1959) is an American musician, composer and conductor. In his early career, he composed and performed accompaniment on the synthesizer for albums including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'' (1983). Marinelli has ...

– synthesizer programming (5) *

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

– keyboards (6), Roland Jupiter 8 (6), Moog bass (6), rhythm arrangements (6) * Reginald "Sonny" Burke – Fender Rhodes (8) * Darrell Jones – guitars (2), acoustic guitar (4), electric guitar (8) * Tim May – guitars (2), acoustic guitar (8) * Carlos Rios – guitars (3, 7) * Mitch Holder – guitars (4) *

Louie Shelton William Louis Shelton (born April 6, 1941) is an American guitarist and music producer. Biography During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s Shelton was a session musician working in recording studios around Hollywood. Among his more notable session w ...

– guitars (4, 8) *

Fred Tackett Fred Tackett (born August 30, 1945) is an American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Originally a session player on guitar, mandolin, and trumpet, he is best known as a member of the band Little Feat. In addition to his work with Little ...

– acoustic guitar (4) *

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

– guitars (6), guitar solo (7) *

Peter Banks Peter William Brockbanks (15 July 1947 – 7 March 2013), known professionally as Peter Banks, was a British guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and producer. He was the original guitarist in the rock band Yes, and also the Syn, Flash, and Empire. ...

– guitars (8) ncredited*

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López Sr. (born July 17, 1947) is a Mexican-American bassist who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. ''Guitar Player'' magazine called him "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the f ...

– bass guitar (2, 3) *

Joe Chemay Joe Chemay is an American bassist and background singer, known for his recording session work. Biography Chemay started out working as a session and touring support musician in Los Angeles, but moved to Nashville in 1989. Chemay has worked wi ...

– bass guitar (4, 7, 8) *

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass player and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts deg ...

– bass guitar (5) *

Paul Leim Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

–

Simmons drums Simmons is an electronic drum brand, which originally was a pioneering British manufacturer of electronic drums. Founded in 1978 by Dave Simmons, it supplied electronic kits from 1980 to 1994. The drums' distinctive, electronic sound can be foun ...

(1), drums (3, 4, 8) *

John Robinson John Robinson may refer to: Academics *John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist * John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood'' * John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist *Joh ...

– drums (2, 6) *

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working o ...

– drums (7) * Paulinho da Costa – percussion (2, 7) * Charlie Loper – trombone (2) *

Bill Reichenbach Jr. William Frank Reichenbach Jr. (born November 30, 1949) is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He is the son of Bill Reichenbach, who was the drummer for Charlie Byrd from 1962 to 1973. He is best known as a session musician for television, ...

– trombone (2) *

Chuck Findley Charles B. Findley (born December 13, 1947 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American trumpet player known for his diverse work as a session musician. He also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone. His technical abilities ...

– trumpet (2) * Gary Grant – trumpet (2) *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'', '' Rock with You'' ...

– trumpet (2) *

James Anthony Carmichael James Anthony Carmichael (born September 14, 1941) is an American Grammy-winning musician, arranger, and record producer. At first he started off in Los Angeles as an arranger and producer for Motown acts like The Temptations and the Jackson 5. ...

– arrangements (1), horn arrangements (2), string arrangements (2, 3, 4, 8), rhythm arrangements (3, 4, 5, 7, 8) * Jeremy Lubbock – string arrangements (6) * Israel Baker – concertmaster (3, 4, 6) *

Harry Bluestone Harry Bluestone (30 September 1907 – 22 December 1992) was a composer and violinist who composed music for TV and film. He was prolific and worked mainly on composing with Emil Cadkin. Earlier on, he was a violinist and freelanced on rad ...

– concertmaster (8) * Melinda Joyce Chatman – vocal sound effects (2) *

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter who has released six studio albums. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'', was released in June ...

– backing vocals (2) *

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's self-titled debut album went triple-platinum in 1987, and his first single, " D ...

– backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 7) * Deborah Thomas – backing vocals (2, 5, 7) *

Kin Vassy Charles Kindred Vassy (August 16, 1943 – June 23, 1994) was a singer-songwriter, who in addition to his solo recordings also recorded with other artists, most notably Kenny Rogers, Frank Zappa and Elvis Presley. In the 1960s, Vassy was a memb ...

– backing vocals (2) * Jeanette Hawes – backing vocals (6) Chant vocals on "All Night Long" * Diane Burt * James Anthony Carmichael * Melinda Joyce Chatman * David Cochrane * Dr. Lloyd Byro Greig *

* Jeanette Hawes * Janice Marie Johnson * Brenda Harvey-Richie * Richard Marx * Deborah Joyce Richie * Lionel Richie * Suzanne Stanford * Deborah Thomas Hoopa Hollers on "All Night Long" * Marilyn Ammons * Sue Ann Butler * Melinda Joyce Chatman * Sheldon J. Cohn, Esq. * Sandy Dent-Crimmel * Ruth Diaz * David Egerton * Sylvia Genauer * Rejauna Lynn Green * Gabrielle Greig * Sally Greig * Tanya Greig * Darryl Jones * David Malvin * Alison Maxwell * Jerry Montes * John Michael Montes * Billy "Bass" Nelson * Greg Phillinganes * Carlos Rios * Suzanne Stanford * Randy Stern * Wilbert Terrell * Susan Wood

Production

* James Anthony Carmichael – producer (1–5, 7, 8) * Lionel Richie – producer (1–5, 7, 8) * David Foster – producer (6) * Brenda Harvey-Richie – production assistant * Melinda Joyce Chatman – production coordinator *

– recording and mixing engineer * Steve Crimmel – second recording engineer (1–5, 7) * David Egerton – second recording engineer (1–5, 7) * Mark Ettel – second recording engineer (1–5, 7) * Larry Ferguson – recording engineer (6) *

Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean-born American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. Gatica's ...

– recording and mixing engineer (6) * Terry Christian – second recording engineer (6) * Jim Cassell – second recording engineer (8) * Jane Clark – additional engineer * Fred Law – second mixing * Karen Siegel – second mixing * David Kraai – technical support *

Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...

– mastering at

A&M Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property serv ...

(Hollywood, California) * Rita Leigh – creative assistant * Johnny Lee – art direction * Chris Callis – innerspread photography * Greg Gorman – front and back cover photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control 1983 albums Lionel Richie albums Albums produced by David Foster Albums produced by James Anthony Carmichael Albums produced by Lionel Richie Albums recorded at United Western Recorders Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders Grammy Award for Album of the Year Motown albums

Critical reception

Commercial performance

20th anniversary deluxe edition

Track listing

Personnel

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

See also

References