Blue Lights in the Basement

Blue Lights in the Basement is the sixth studio album by American singer Roberta Flack, released by Atlantic on December 13, 1977. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number eight on the US Billboard 200, becoming her third top-ten album on the chart and reaching number five on the R&B albums chart. On February 27, 1978, the album received a Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments over 500,000 copies.

The album features the single "The Closer I Get to You", a duet with best friend and fellow soul musician Donny Hathaway, which became the biggest hit from the album, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reaching #1 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. The collaboration with Hathaway would be one of his final singles released in his lifetime before his death in 1979.

The Blue Lights in the Basement track "After You" (a song released originally by Diana Ross in 1976) would be the first of several Michael Masser compositions Flack would record (with the 1983 Peabo Bryson duet "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" becoming a million-seller): in 2008 Flack would cite "After You" as one of her favorite recordings.

Personnel

 * Roberta Flack – lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards, arrangements
 * Paul Griffin – keyboards
 * Ronnie Foster – keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals
 * Don Grolnick – keyboards
 * Rob Mounsey – keyboards
 * Leon Pendarvis – keyboards, backing vocals, musical arrangements
 * Harry Whitaker – keyboards, musical arrangements
 * Reggie Lucas – guitar
 * Hugh McCracken – guitar, musical arrangements
 * Jeff Mironov – guitar
 * David Spinozza – guitar
 * John Tropea – guitar
 * Anthony Jackson – electric bass
 * Basil Fearrington – electric bass
 * Will Lee – electric bass
 * Gary King – electric bass, musical arrangements
 * Steve Gadd – drums
 * Allan Schwartzberg – drums
 * Jimmy Wong – drums
 * Howard King – drums
 * Idris Muhammad – drums
 * Errol "Crusher" Bennett – percussion
 * David Carey – percussion
 * Jimmy Maelen – percussion
 * James Mtume – percussion, backing vocals
 * Michael Kamen – oboe solo (10), musical arrangements
 * Donny Hathaway – lead vocals (2)
 * Jim Gilstrap – backing vocals
 * Lani Groves – backing vocals
 * Gwen Guthrie – backing vocals
 * Yvonne Lewis – backing vocals
 * Gene McDaniels – backing vocals
 * Zach Sanders – backing vocals
 * Brenda White – backing vocals
 * Deniece Williams – backing vocals

Production

 * Joe Ferla – producer, engineer, remixing
 * Rubina Flake – producer
 * Gene McDaniels – producer
 * Ahmet Ertegun – executive producer
 * Brian Christian – engineer
 * Mike Moran – engineer
 * Ralph Moss – engineer
 * Phil Schier – engineer
 * Ted Spencer – engineer
 * Jack Adelman – mastering
 * Stewart Bosley – album design
 * Gazebo Group – album design
 * Dave Gahr – back photography
 * John Pinderhughes – front photography


 * Studios
 * Recorded at The Hit Factory, Columbia Recording Studios, RCA Studios, and Record Plant N.Y.C. (New York, NY); Record Plant and Westlake Audio (Los Angeles, CA); Kendun Recorders (Burbank, CA); P.S. Recording Studios (Chicago, IL).