"Wanna Be with You" is a song by R&B band

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

issued as a single in December 1981 by ARC/

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. The single rose to No. 15 on the US

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 advertis ...

Hot Soul Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

chart, No. 7 on the UK

Blues & Soul ''Blues & Soul'' is a British music magazine, established in 1967 by John Abbey. ''The Independent'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as ''NME'' and '' Q''. ''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a r ...

Top British Soul Singles chart and No. 40 on the

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

Canadian Pop Singles Chart.

Overview

"Wanna Be with You" was produced by

Maurice White Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American musician, best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter and chief producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, also serving as the band's co-lead singer with Philip Bailey. ...

and composed by White with Wayne Vaughn. The single's US

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

was an instrumental of an interlude called Kalimba Tree with its UK b-side being a song called My Love. Wanna Be With You, Kalimba Tree and My Love came from EWF's 1981 studio album ''

Raise! ''Raise!'' is the eleventh studio album by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released on November 14, 1981, by American Record Corporation, ARC/Columbia Records.The album spent 11 weeks atop the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Top R&B/Hip- ...

''.

Critical reception

Don Palmer of

Musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

proclaimed that "Wanna Be with You" is a relaxed shuffle bump boogie based around a ten note piano vamp. The handclaps provide a solid back beat while the horns and altered vocal yelps exclaim the obvious".

Tim de Lisle Timothy John March Phillipps de Lisle (born 25 June 1962) is a British writer and editor who is a former feature writer for ''The Guardian'' and other publications, focusing on cricket and rock music. Early life and education De Lisle is the seco ...

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

called Wanna Be with You "a pleasant surprise, an excellent melody given a fresh jazzy treatment. "Wanna Be with You" won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in the category of

Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as th ...

Covers

Wanna Be with You was covered by the jazz group

Urban Knights The Urban Knights are an American all-star jazz fusion band. They released their self-titled debut in 1995. They have a total of 8 studio albums. Overview The Urban Knight's debut album, '' Urban Knights I'', was released in 1995 by GRP Records. ...

on their 1995 album Urban Knights I.

Personnel

* Writing - Maurice White, Wayne Vaughn * Producer - Maurice White * Assistant producer -

Larry Dunn Larry Dunn (born Lorenzo Russell Dunn; June 19, 1953) is an American keyboardist, producer, songwriter and musical director, known as one of the original members of the music group Earth, Wind & Fire. Dunn was inducted, as a former band member, in ...

Verdine White Verdine Adams White (born Verdine Adams Jr.; July 25, 1951) is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist for the band Earth, Wind & Fire. White was placed at No. 19 on Rolling Stone's list oThe 50 Greatest Bassists of Al ...

* Programmer - Larry Dunn * Arranger -

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 Y ...

Engineers

* Assistant engineer - Tom Perry * Mixing engineer - Mick Guzauski, Tom Perry * Recording engineer - Ken Fowler, Mick Guzauski, Ron Pendragon

Chart positions

References

{{Earth, Wind & Fire 1981 songs 1981 singles Columbia Records singles Earth, Wind & Fire songs Songs written by Maurice White