''Some People's Lives'' is the seventh studio album by American singer Bette Midler. It was released by Atlantic Records on September 4, 1990 in the United States. It contains one of her biggest hits, "

From a Distance "From a Distance" is a song written in 1985 by American singer-songwriter Julie Gold. Gold was working as a secretary at the time for HBO and writing songs in her free time. Gold's friend, Christine Lavin, introduced the song to Nanci Griffith, ...

," which won songwriter

Julie Gold Julie Gold (born February 3, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her musical composition "From a Distance," which became a hit for Bette Midler and won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1991. "From a Distance" ha ...

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 Song of the Year in 1991. ''Some People's Lives'' became the biggest commercial success of Midler's musical career, peaking at number 6 in the US and number 5 in the UK. It was later awarded double platinum by the RIAA for sales of over two million copies in the US alone.

Background

Following a series of successful Hollywood movies made throughout the 1980s, among them '' Down and Out in Beverly Hills'', ''

Ruthless People ''Ruthless People'' is a 1986 American black comedy film directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and written by Dale Launer. It stars Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Anita Morris, and Helen Slater, with Bill Pullman ...

'', '' Outrageous Fortune'', ''

Oliver and Company ''Oliver & Company'' is a 1988 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released on November 18, 1988, by Walt Disney Pictures. The 27th Disney animated feature film, it is loosely based on the Charl ...

'' and ''

Big Business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...

'', Midler returned to the music scene with a proper studio album in 1990, her first since 1983's rock and new wave-influenced '' No Frills''. ''Some People's Lives'', however, had more in common with the preceding soundtrack ''

Beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

'' in that it featured both interpretations of jazz standards like "

Miss Otis Regrets "Miss Otis Regrets" is a song about the lynching of a society woman after she murders her unfaithful lover. It was composed by Cole Porter in 1934, and first performed by Douglas Byng in ''Hi Diddle Diddle'', a revue that opened on October 3, 19 ...

", " Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" and "

He Was Too Good to Me "He Was Too Good to Me" is a song with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart. It was introduced in the tryouts of their 1930 Broadway musical '' Simple Simon'', but was dropped before the show's New York opening. Despite its inauspi ...

" as well as more chart-oriented pop and

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

material with contrasting synth-driven arrangements courtesy of producer

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for o ...

, his son Joe and Robbie Buchanan. The up-tempo track "Moonlight Dancing" (first recorded by pop/R&B group

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, bl ...

) was written by noted hitmaker Diane Warren and "The Gift of Love" by Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg and Susanna Hoffs. Steinberg and Kelly were the songwriting team behind Madonna's " Like a Virgin",

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

's " True Colors" and

The Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including " Manic Monday" (1986), " Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), "Hazy Shad ...

' "

Eternal Flame An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which can ...

Promotion

"Moonlight Dancing" (also released as an extended dance remix which sampled the 1973 recording "

Do You Want to Dance "Do You Want to Dance" is a song written by American singer Bobby Freeman and recorded by him in 1958. It reached number No. 5 on the United States ''Billboard'' Top 100 Sides pop chart and No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart. Cliff Richard ...

"), " Night and Day" and "The Gift of Love" were all issued as singles, but the biggest hit that the album produced was Midler's interpretation of

's anthem of universal brotherhood "

" featuring The Radio Choir of New Hope Church. The single reached number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and number 6 in the UK and was later certified platinum in the US, making it Midler's second million-seller within the space of two years (following "

Wind Beneath My Wings "Wind Beneath My Wings" (sometimes titled "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and "Hero") is a song written in 1982 by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley. The song was first recorded by Kamahl in 1982 for a country and western album he was recording. Kamahl ta ...

" from the ''Beaches'' soundtrack). The song has since been recorded by a large number of other artists, and Midler herself included an alternate version with partly re-written lyrics on her 2006 album ''

Cool Yule ''Cool Yule'' is a holiday album by Bette Midler released on October 10, 2006, through Columbia Records. Midler's first seasonal release, the album features many standard Christmas tunes as well as a reworking edition of her Grammy-winning hit ...

''.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

editor Bryan Buss called the album "one of the singer's strongest collections." He felt that aside from "poor production" on "From a Distance," ''Some People's Lives'' was "a smooth collection of standards ..This is Midler at her best – playful, yearning, brassy, regretful – and that is mostly because producer Arif Mardin surrounds his star with respectful production that matches her talent while accenting her strengths." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' critic Dennis Hunt critisized the album for its "overload of whiny, dirge-like ballads ..Fortunately, there's nothing on the album quite as unabashedly sentimental as "

," but many of the songs have those same sappy overtones."

Commercial performance

''Some People's Lives'' became the biggest commercial success of Midler's musical career. It reached its highest peak in the United Kingdom, where it entered the top five and reached gold status in July 1991. In the United States, it peaked at number 6 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, becoming her highest-charting album since '' Bette Midler'' (1973). Exceeding shipments of more than 2 million copies, it was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in March 1991. Elsewhere, the album entered the top ten in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, while reaching number 15 on the

German Albums Chart The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustr ...

and number 27 on the

Austrian Albums Chart Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example ...

. ''Some People's Lives'' was classified as the 36th best-selling album of 1991 in Australia. In Canada, the set became the 60th most-selling album in 1990, while in 1991 it scored at number 36 on the End-of-Year chart. ''Billboard'' ranked it 16th on its 1991 year-end chart.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians * Bette Midler – all vocals (1-6, 8, 9), lead vocals (7, 10) *

Joe Mardin Joe Mardin (born Yusuf Mardin) is a Turkish-American music producer, arranger and engineer from New York City. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate and is the son of the Turkish American producer Arif Mardin. Joe Mardin is also a conductor, ...

– keyboards (1, 5, 8, 10), programming (1, 5, 8, 10), arrangements (1, 8, 10), keyboard solo (5), conductor (8), backing vocals (10) *

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman (; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman. He wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics for the Broa ...

– arrangements (1-4, 6), acoustic piano (2, 9), conductor (2, 3, 4, 6), vocal arrangements (7, 8), basic rhythm arrangements (9) * Bernie Layton – acoustic piano (3) * Robbie Buchanan – keyboards (6, 7, 11), programming (6, 11), additional programming (8) *

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 ...

– additional synthesizers (6), additional programming (11) * Guy Roche – additional programming (8) *

Gene Bertoncini Gene J. Bertoncini (born 6 April 1937) is an American jazz guitarist. Biography Bertoncini was born in New York City, where he was raised in a musical family. His father, Mario Bertoncini (1901–1978), played guitar and harmonica. Gene began pl ...

– guitar (3) * Michael Landau – guitar (6, 7) *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher ...

– guitar (6, 11) *

John McCurry John McCurry (born June 24, 1957) is an American musician and composer, a guitarist, songwriter and singer based in New York City. He has worked with many well-known musical artists, including Chicago, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Al ...

– guitar (10) *

Andrew Gold Andrew Maurice Gold (August 2, 1951 – June 3, 2011) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold played on scores of reco ...

– guitar solo (11) * Ron Carter – bass (3) * Neil Stubenhaus – bass (6, 7, 11) *

Jay Leonhart Jay Leonhart (born December 6, 1940) is a double bassist, singer, and songwriter who has worked in jazz and popular music. He has performed with Judy Garland, Bucky Pizzarelli, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Sting. Leonhart is noted for his cle ...

– bass (9) *

Grady Tate Grady Tate (January 14, 1932 – October 8, 2017) was an American jazz and soul-jazz drummer and baritone vocalist. In addition to his work as sideman, Tate released many albums as leader and lent his voice to songs in the animated ''Schoolhou ...

– drums (3) *

Carlos Vega Carlos Vega (December 7, 1956 – April 7, 1998) was a Cuban-born Los Angeles-based session drummer best known for his performances with James Taylor. As a part of the L.A. studio scene from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Vega contributed to ...

– drums (6, 7, 11) * Steve Kroon – percussion (1) * Gary Coleman – percussion (6) * Phil Bodner – clarinet solo (3) *

Nino Tempo Nino Tempo (born Antonino LoTempio; January 6, 1935) is an American musician, singer, and actor. He was a duet partner with his older sister April Stevens as well as the frontman for a 1970s funk band, 5th Ave. Sax. Career Antonino LoTempio w ...

– tenor saxophone (4) * Andy Snitzer – soprano sax solo (6) *

– arrangements (1, 5, 7, 11), orchestral arrangements and conductor (9) *

Billie Hughes Billie Keith Hughes (April 4, 1948 – July 3, 1998) was an American recording artist, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known for his successful artist career in Japan, lead vocalist of his band Lazarus and his collaboratio ...

– arrangements (5) * Steve Skinner – arrangements (7) * Sid Page – concertmaster (2) * Bruce Dukov – concertmaster (4) *

Gene Orloff Gene Orloff (June 14, 1921 – March 23, 2009) was an American violinist, concertmaster, arranger, contractor and session musician. Background The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from the ...

– concertmaster (9) * Charlotte Crossley – backing vocals (7) * Cissy Houston – backing vocals (7) * Jo Ann Harris – backing vocals (7) *

David Lasley David Eldon Lasley (August 20, 1947 – December 9, 2021) was an American recording artist, singer, musician and songwriter. He was best known as a touring background singer for James Taylor, as a session singer on recordings by artists including ...

– backing vocals (7) * Myrna Smith – backing vocals (7) * Gene Van Buren – backing vocals (7) * John West – backing vocals (7) * The Radio Choir of New Hope Church – backing vocals (7) * Ula Hedwig – backing vocals (10) * George Merrill – backing vocals (10) * Tom Kelly – backing vocals (11), vocal arrangements (11) *

Maria Vidal Maria Elena Vidal (born August 1, 1960) is an American singer songwriter. She is known for her hit single "Body Rock", which reached No. 8 on the US Dance Charts, No. 48 on the Hot 100, No. 5 on the Springbok Charts in South Africa, and No. 11 i ...

– backing vocals (11) Production * Arif Mardin – producer * Marc Shaiman – associate producer * Jack Joseph Puig – recording, mixing * Joe Mardin – additional recording (1), additional mixing (1) * Eddie Garcia – additional recording (1), additional mixing (1) * Michael O'Reilly – additional recording (1), additional mixing (1) * Nick Sansano – additional recording (1), additional mixing (1) * Ken Felton – assistant engineer * Rob Harvey – assistant engineer * Ed Korengo – assistant engineer * Bob Loftus – assistant engineer * Gabriel Moffat – assistant engineer * James Nichols – assistant engineer *

Clif Norrell Clif Norrell is an American record producer, recording engineer, music mixer, and musician. He has worked with many prominent artists including Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., Jeff Buckley, No Doubt, Rush, Faith No More, Shania Twain, Mick Jagger, D ...

– assistant engineer * Anthony Saunders – assistant engineer * Jamie Staub – assistant engineer *

Doug Sax Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including ''The Wall''; Ray Charl ...

– mastering * Marsha Burns – production coordination * Lisa Maldonado – additional coordination * Vicky Germaise – additional coordination * Frank DeCaro – orchestra contractor * Gene Orloff – orchestra contractor *

Greg Gorman Greg Gorman (born 1949) is an American portrait photographer of Hollywood celebrities. His work has been seen in national magazine features and covers, including ''Esquire'', '' GQ'', ''Interview'', ''Life'', ''Vogue'', ''Newsweek'', ''Rolling Ston ...

– photography * Bob Defrin – art direction, design Studios * Recorded at

Ocean Way Recording Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

(Hollywood, California); Studio 55 and Studio Ultimo (Los Angeles, California);

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten we ...

, Battery Studios, BMG Studios and

Greene St. Recording Greene St. Recording was a New York City recording studio, located at 112 Greene Street in SoHo, Manhattan, until its closure in 2001. It was one of the early headquarters of hip hop music during the 1980s and 1990s. History Greene St. began in ...

(New York City, New York). * Mixed at Studio 55 and Electric Lady Studios. * Mastered at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California).

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Bette Midler albums Albums produced by Arif Mardin Atlantic Records albums