''Secret Passion'' is the seventh studio album by French singer

Amanda Lear Amanda Lear (; born 18 June or 18 November 1939 or 1941 or 1946 or 1950) is a French singer, songwriter, painter, television presenter, actress and former model. She began her professional career as a fashion model in the mid-1960s and went on ...

, released by

Carrere Records Carrere Records (, ) was a French record label which specialized in Euro disco and rock music. The record company was sold to Warner Music Group in the early 1990s. Early days Claude Carrere started working with Annie Chancel in 1962 and renam ...

in 1986.

Background

''Secret Passion'' was Amanda's first full-length studio album after her departure from

Ariola Records Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola Express, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international ...

. It was recorded in Stefana Studios in Los Angeles and Hollywood Studios in Rome with mostly American composers, musicians and arrangers. Contrary to previous albums, Amanda had little input into songwriting and composing, with minor contributions in only three songs. The material showcased a danceable

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

sound produced by Christian De Walden with Steve Singer. ''Secret Passion'' was released by

, a major label in Francophone countries like France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada in the 1970s and 1980s. "Les Femmes", a French-language version of "She Wolf", was released as the lead single in 1986. A cover of

The Troggs The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes) are an English beat music band formed in Andover, Hampshire, in May 1964. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper " Wild Thing", " With a Girl Like You" and " Love Is All Around", al ...

' " Wild Thing" and "Time's Up" were released in early 1987, the latter only in the United Kingdom. "Aphrodisiac" was re-recorded in French and re-titled "Aphrodisiaque" for its release as a single exclusively in France. During the album's recording sessions, an updated dance version of Lear's signature tune "

Follow Me Follow Me may refer to: Film and television Film * ''Follow Me'', a 1969 film scored by Stu Phillips (composer), Stu Phillips * Follow Me! (film), ''Follow Me!'' (film), a 1972 British comedy-drama directed by Carol Reed * Follow Me (film), ''Foll ...

" was recorded, and subsequently released as a single to promote ''Secret Passion'', although it was not included on the album. Despite frequent television performances, none of the singles managed to chart. The album was not only intended to be a European comeback for Amanda Lear, after a few years of working primarily as a successful TV presenter, but also a serious attempt to launch her career in English-speaking countries like the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom as well. However, as she was getting ready to start promoting ''Secret Passion'', Lear was seriously injured in a near fatal car crash. She had to spend months in convalescence and was unable to promote the album. As a result, it did not fare as well commercially as had been hoped and planned for. While the album has not had a CD release as such, tracks have surfaced on a number of compilations licensed by Siebenpunkts Verlag Gmbh/

ZYX Music ZYX Music GmbH & Co. KG is a German record label founded in 1971 by Bernhard Mikulski. It is one of the most successful German record labels of the 1980s and 1990s. Until 1992, the label was known as Pop-Import Bernhard Mikulski. The label speci ...

/Mint Records over the years and all eight songs have appeared on compilations ''I'm a Mistery – The Whole Story'' (2001) and ''Living Legend'' (2003).

Track listing

;Side A # "Desire" (Cale Roberts, Frank Anselmo) – 4:18 # " Wild Thing" (

Chip Taylor Chip Taylor (born James Wesley Voight; March 21, 1940) is an American songwriter and singer noted for writing " Angel of the Morning" and " Wild Thing". He is the paternal uncle of actress Angelina Jolie and former actor James Haven. He is the ...

) – 3:36 # "I Want My Name on a Billboard" (Steve Singer, Margaret Harris, Peter Van Asten, Richard DeBois) – 4:25 # "She Wolf" (Madelynn Von Ritz, Gary M. Johnson) – 4:17 ;Side B # "Mannequin" (Michael Price,

) – 3:32 # "I'm a Mistery" (Seraphim, Amanda Lear, Roland Vincent) – 4:35 # "Aphrodisiac" (Mike Stepstone, Steve Singer, Amanda Lear, Lenny Macaluso) – 3:44 # "Time's Up" (Mara Cubeddu, Michael Bernard, Bob Esty) – 4:55

Personnel

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Rocco Barocco Rocco Barocco (born 26 March 1944 in Naples, Italy) is a fashion designer. His real name is Antonio Muscariello. After his first steps in the fashion industry he legally changed his name to Rocco Barocco. During his childhood and youth, he live ...

– dress *Rick Braun –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

*Kim Bullard –

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s * Charlie Cannon –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

*Frank Castiglia – backing vocals *Claude Caudron – artwork *Rosie D'Andrea – backing vocals * Christian De Walden –

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, musical and vocal arranger, executive producer, mixing *Stacey Dunne – backing vocals *Michael Fisher –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

*Denny Fongheiser –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Kiko Fusco –

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...

*Brian Gardner – mastering *John Inglodsby – assistant sound engineer *Marco Manusso –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

*Maurizio Mariani – assistant sound engineer *Carlo Mezzano – executive producer *Victoria Miller – backing vocals *Doug Norwine –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

Carol Parks Carol Celeste Parks (born Carol Celeste Carmichael; November 30, 1949 – October 21, 2010) was an American singer and composer. Early life Parks was born in Pasadena, California, daughter of contemporary Christian music composer, conductor and ...

– backing vocals, vocal arranger *

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

– guitar *Bob Parr –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

*John C. Parr – guitar *Greg Penny – sound engineer, mixing *Leslie Perkins – backing vocals *Eddiy Petrolati – assistant sound engineer *Michael Price – synthesizers *Debbie Rider – backing vocals *Annie Robert – backing vocals *Roberto Rocchi – cover photo *Denise Rosner – backing vocals *Tom Walsh – drums *Joe Seta – sound engineer *Steve Singer – record producer, musical arranger, executive producer, synthesizers

Release history

References

External links

''Secret Passion''
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

''Secret Passion''
at

Rate Your Music Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online encyclopedia of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also features comm ...

{{Authority control 1986 albums Amanda Lear albums