Big Fun (Shalamar album)

Big Fun is the third album by the American musical group Shalamar, released in 1979 through SOLAR Records. Big Fun was produced by Leon Sylvers III and is the first album to feature what is considered the 'classic' Shalamar line-up (Jeffrey Daniel, Howard Hewett and Jody Watley), with Hewett having replaced Gerald Brown. The album features the group's most successful hit on the Hot 100 pop chart, "The Second Time Around".

Big Fun has been certified Gold in the United States for sales of over 500,000. It peaked at #4 on the R&B chart and #23 on the Billboard chart (Shalamar's highest-placing album on this chart). In the UK it reached #45.

In 2002, Big Fun was re-released by Sanctuary Records in the United Kingdom in a two-for-one CD format with Shalamar's following album Three for Love.

The song "I Owe You One" was sampled in Raw Man's "Beautiful", and Le Knight Club's "Mosquito".

Reception
The New York Times called the album "a very eclectic blend of pop hooks and light disco with funk trimmings." AllMusic rated the album four out of five stars. Writer Colin Larkin rated it three out of five.

The album sold 625,000+ units as of July 1982. Its single "The Second Time Around" sold around 1.8 million units.

Shalamar
Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniel, Howard Hewett: lead and backing vocals

Musical Personnel

 * Kevin Spencer: keyboards, clavinet
 * William Shelby: keyboards, clavinet, Fender Rhodes
 * Kossi Gardner: keyboards, Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ
 * "Gip" Nobels, Gene Dozier, Joey Gallo, John Barnes, Ron Artists: keyboards
 * Ernest Biles, James Davis: bass
 * Leon Sylvers III: bass, percussion
 * Ernest Reed, Fred Rheimert, Steve Shockley: guitars
 * Freeman Brown, Gerald Thompson, Wardell Potts: drums
 * Greg "Popeye" Dawkins: congas
 * Fred Lewis: percussion
 * Christine Ermacoff, Edgar Lustgarten, Harry Shlutz, Marie Fera: cellos
 * Brian Leanord, David Johnson, Jerry Vinci, Ilkka Talvi, Irma Newman, Norman Carr, Norman Leonard, Reginald Hill, Ronald Fulsom, Sheldon Sanou: violins