Johnny Gill (1990 album)

Johnny Gill is the third album by American singer Johnny Gill, released in April 1990, and his first for Motown Records. The album produced four hit singles: "Rub You the Right Way," "My, My, My," "Wrap My Body Tight" and "Fairweather Friend". It was recorded with the label during the hiatus of Gill's group New Edition. The album sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Before joining New Edition for their Heart Break album in 1988, Gill had already recorded two songs for the album―"Just Another Lonely Night" and "Feels So Much Better". By February 1991, the album had already sold approximately 2,050,000 copies in the United States and 50,000 in Canada, making the album 2x platinum in the United States at the time.

In a review for AllMusic, Jason Birchmeier opined that "Motown's visionary teaming of" Gill with production duos Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and L.A. Reid and Babyface "at their respective primes culminated in a set of wonderful songs". He singled out "chief among them" "Rub You the Right Way" (a Jam & Lewis production), which he described as "one of the definitive new jack swing anthems of the era", and "My, My, My" (L.A. & Babyface)" as "reprising many of the same qualities that had made Babyface's own "Whip Appeal" single such an across-the-board chart-topper only a year earlier." Birchmeier went on to say that "the remainder of the album still had more than its fair share of highlights", describing "Feels So Much Better" and "Giving My All to You" as "excellent album tracks". He concluded the review by saying that the album is "in a sense, [Gill's] ultimate legacy. And a fine legacy it is, indeed."^[2]

Notes

• (co.) - signifies as co-producer

• Johnny Gill – percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals
• Jimmy Jam – percussion, drum and keyboard programming, arranger
• Terry Lewis – percussion, backing vocals, arranger
• Babyface – keyboards
• Cirocco – keyboards, synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, sound effects
• Jim Demgen – keyboards
• Randy Ran – keyboards, drum and keyboard programming, backing vocals, arranger
• Steve Kroon – percussion
• O'Jania, Daryl Simmons, Tony Tolbert, The Waters Sisters, Lance Ellington, After 7, Linda Brown, Pebbles, Karyn White – backing vocals
• Georg Wadenius – guitar
• Kayo, Lucio Hopper – bass
• Buddy Williams – drums, percussion
• L.A. Reid – drums, percussion, mixing
• Kenny G – saxophone

• Peter McCabe – mixing
• Steve Meltzer – artwork
• Louis Padgett – engineer
• Donnell Sullivan – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
• John VanNest – mixing
• Chris Cuffaro – photography
• Beth Yenni – design
• Zetra Smith – production coordination
• John Payne – assistant engineer
• Michael Alvord – assistant engineer
• Jheryl Busby – executive producer
• Jim Dutt – engineer
• Brian Gardner – mastering
• Jon Gass – engineer, mixing
• Steve Hodge – engineer, mixing

• List of number-one R&B albums of 1990 (U.S.)