''Vox Humana'' is the fifth studio album released by American singer-songwriter

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark "Kenny" Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded with Jim Messina (musician), Jim Mess ...

. Released in 1985, it was Loggins' first album released after his appearance upon the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the motion picture ''

Footloose ''Footloose'' is a 1984 American musical drama film directed by Herbert Ross and written by Dean Pitchford. It tells the story of Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon), a teenager from Chicago who moves to a small town, where he attempts to overturn a b ...

'' during the year prior. ''Vox Humana'' was certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in the US by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Overview

Among those who make guest appearances are members of

DeBarge DeBarge was an American musical recording group composed of several members of the DeBarge family. In addition to various solo projects completed by members of the family, DeBarge was active between 1979 and 1989. The group originally consiste ...

the Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...

Philip Bailey Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and percussionist, best known as an early member and one of the two lead singers (along with group founder Maurice White) of the band Earth, Wind & Fire. Noted for his fo ...

, Mr. Mister's

Richard Page Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979, and from 1979 to 2005. Early life Born the so ...

and Steve George. Don Shewey reviewed the album for ''

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. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', favorably comparing its rhythm tracks and production to

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

, but criticizing "the overblown productions of the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

– Journey– Toto school of bombastic

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

kitsch", especially on the song "

Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama, based on the novel by Judy Blume * '' ...

" with music by

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

. "Forever" was written for a short film called ''Access All Areas'' produced by

Jenny Sullivan Jenny Sullivan is an American film and television actress. She has starred in some TV movies, and her best-known role is reporter Kristine Walsh in the 1983 miniseries '' V'' and its 1984 sequel '' V: The Final Battle''. Early years Sullivan i ...

(ex-wife of Jim Messina, Kenny Loggins' former bandmate in

Loggins and Messina Loggins and Messina was an American pop rock duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, who achieved major chart success during the early-mid 1970s. Among their well-known songs are " Danny's Song", " House at Pooh Corner", and " Your M ...

). The song was a Top 40 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1985, and continues to be a favorite among Loggins' fans. Some of its success on the charts can be attributed to its use in the

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

, ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in the fictional Genoa City (named after the real-life Genoa City, Wiscon ...

''. A live version was recorded on the video for '' Outside: From the Redwoods'' but was not included in the album release. "Love Will Follow" was included as a duet version with singer

Shanice Shanice Lorraine Wilson-Knox (née Wilson; born May 14, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and dancer. She had the ''Billboard'' hit singles "I Love Your Smile" and "Silent Prayer" in 1991 and "Saving Forever for ...

on the Kenny Loggins live-concert album ''Outside: From the Redwoods''.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians *

– vocals, acoustic guitar (1), guitar solo (1), keyboards (7) * Steve Wood – synthesizers (1), keyboards (3, 5-7), synthesizer programming (3) *

Michael Omartian Michael S. Omartian (born November 26, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, keyboardist, and music producer. He produced number-one records in three consecutive decades. He has earned 11 Grammy Awards nominations and won three. H ...

– keyboards (2), synthesizers (2) *

Randy Kerber Randy Kerber (born September 25, 1958) is an American composer, orchestrator and keyboard player, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema. Kerber was born in Encino, California. He began his first national tour with Bette Midler in ...

– keyboards (3, 5, 7) *

– keyboards (4, 6, 8), synthesizers (4) *

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 "Synthes ...

– synthesizers (4, 5) * Erich Bulling –

Yamaha DX1 The Yamaha DX1 is the top-level member of Yamaha Corporation, Yamaha's prolific DX series of Frequency modulation synthesis, FM Digital synthesizer, synthesizers. Background The DX1 has two sets of the synthesizer chipset used in the Yamaha D ...

programming (4) *

Neil Larsen Neil Larsen (born August 7, 1948) is an American jazz keyboardist, musical arranger and composer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Sarasota, Florida before relocating to New York and then, in 1977, Los Angeles. Early life Larsen was ...

– synthesizers (5), keyboards (7) *

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, vocalist, and arranger. A session musician, Phillinganes has contributed to numerous albums over a broad array of artists and genres. He has toured with artists includin ...

– keyboards (7), synthesizers (9) * Bo Tomlyn – programming (7) *

Randy Waldman Randy Waldman (born September 8, 1955, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor. He has frequently collaborated with Barbra Streisand, serving as her pianist and conductor since 1984. Waldman has ...

– synthesizers (7) *

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, and film music composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff ...

– synthesizer programming (8) * John Barnes –

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980s, th ...

(9),

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, music sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commerc ...

(9) * Derek Nakamoto – programming (9) *

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record-producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitchel ...

– guitars (2-4, 8, 9) *

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1958 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and th ...

– guitar solo (2) *

Paul Jackson, Jr. Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

– guitars (5) *

Buzz Feiten Howard "Buzz" Feiten II (born November 4, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, session musician, and luthier. He is a lead and rhythm guitarist and patented a tuning system for guitars and similar instruments. Feiten also manufactu ...

– guitars (6) *

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" 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 ...

– guitar solo (6) * David Williams – guitars (9) *

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist 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 ...

– bass (1, 3, 5-7, 9) *

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López (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 fathe ...

– bass (8) *

Tris Imboden Gregory Tristan "Tris" Imboden (born July 27, 1951) is an American rock and jazz drummer. As a performer, he has been in studio sessions and on tour with some of the most notable and highest-selling musicians of all time. He was the drummer fo ...

– drums (3, 6, 8) * John Robinson – drums (4) *

Paulinho da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...

– percussion (4, 5) *

Sheila E Sheila Cecilia Escovedo (born December 12, 1957), known under the stage name Sheila E., is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians of her generation; she is known for skills as a multi-instrumental ...

–

cabasa The cabasa, similar to the shekere, is a percussion instrument that is constructed with loops of steel ball chain wrapped around a wooden cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, wooden or plastic handle. The metal cabasa was created by Mar ...

(5) *

David Sanborn David William Sanborn (July 30, 1945 – May 12, 2024) was an American alto saxophonist. He worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age o ...

– saxophone (9) Backing vocals * Neil Larsen – backing vocals (3) * Steve George – backing vocals (3) *

Marilyn Martin Marilyn Martin (born May 4, 1954) is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 1985 hit duet with Phil Collins, " Separate Lives", which reached number one on several charts. Early life Marilyn Martin was born on May 4, 19 ...

– backing vocals (3, 9) * Donna McDaniel – backing vocals (3, 9) *

– backing vocals (3) *

Hamish Stuart James Hamish Stuart (born 8 October 1949) is a Scottish guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer. He was an original member of the Average White Band. Biography Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Stuart attended Queens Park School ...

– backing vocals (3) * Guy Thomas – backing vocals (3) *

Bunny DeBarge Etterlene "Bunny" DeBarge (born March 10, 1955) is an American soul singer–songwriter and the lone female sibling of the Motown family group DeBarge. She was the lead vocalist on the R&B ballad " A Dream", from the group's ''In a Special Way'' ...

– backing vocals (4) *

El Debarge Eldra "El" Patrick DeBarge (born June 4, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He was the focal point and primary lead singer of the DeBarge family, family group DeBarge. Popular songs led by El DeBarge include "Time Will Reveal ...

– backing vocals (4) *

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...

– backing vocals (5) * Carl Anderson – backing vocals (7) *

– backing vocals (7) * Carl Caldwell – backing vocals (7)

Production

* Producers – Kenny Loggins (Tracks 1, 3-5, 7-9); Michael Omartian (Track 2); David Foster (Track 6). * Engineers – Bobby Cohen, Terry Christian, Mark Ettel,

Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean and 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, Cher and Michael Bublé. Gatic ...

, John Guess, Mark Lynette, Terry Nelson,

Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, record executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Dou ...

, Ed Rak and

Elliot Scheiner Elliot Ray Scheiner (born March 18, 1947) is a music producer, mixer and engineer. Scheiner has received 27 Grammy Award nominations (winning eight), four Emmy nominations (winning two Emmy Awards for his work with the Eagles on their farewell t ...

. * Second Engineers – David Warren Bowers, Steve Crimmel, Larry Ferguson, Cliff Jones, Laura Livingston and Stephen Shelton. * Mixing – Terry Nelson (Tracks 1 & 7); John Guess (Track 2); Humberto Gatica (Tracks 3, 4, 6, 8 & 9); John "Jellybean" Benitez and Michael Hutchinson (Track 5). * Mix Assistants – David Warren Bowers and Stephen Shelton (Tracks 3, 4, 6, 8 & 9); Sabrina Buchanek (Track 5). * Mix Technicians – Murray Kunis and Paul Tye * Mastered by

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...

at Sterling Sound (New York City). * Production Coordinators – Arlene Matza and David Warren Bowers * Art Direction –

Tony Lane Anthony Samuel Lane (May 2, 1944 – January 1, 2016) was an American graphic artist best known for his album art for various musicians and bands. He began his career as an assistant to Alexey Brodovitch at Harper's Bazaar, and became an early art ...

and Nancy Donald * Cover Artwork – Michael Gonzales * Back Cover Photo –

Greg Gorman Greg Gorman is an American photographer. Education Gorman attended the University of Kansas with a major in Photojournalism and completed his studies at the University of Southern California, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Cine ...

* Inner Sleeve Photos – Lester Cohen, Sam Emerson, Harrison Funk and Daryl Weisser.

References

{{Authority control 1985 albums Kenny Loggins albums Albums produced by David Foster Albums produced by Michael Omartian Columbia Records albums