One Hit Wondering – Calloway

One Hit Wondering is a series of columns where I listen to the album of a one hit wonder, and find three songs, other than the hit, that people should hear. 

The ‘80s were an era of opulence, and perhaps no song proved to be a more aspirational anthem for that era than Calloway’s “I Wanna Be Rich.”

Just making it into the decade, having been released in October of 1989, the undeniably catchy R&B song by the brothers Reggie and Vincent Calloway rocketed to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, as we all sang, and dreamed along with them.

The single, which was the third off their debut album, All The Way, would go gold (sales of at least 500k) for the duo from Cincinnati, Ohio.

All The Way had been released two months prior, and it’s actually a bit surprising that Calloway were given a third opportunity to have a hit from it. Usually a record label moves on if the first few singles don’t find an audience.

What might be even more surprising is that no one at the label recognized “I Wanna Be Rich” would be gigantic. It really should’ve been the lead single.

The liner notes of the album show the Calloway brothers to be multi-talented musicians. In addition to writing and producing every song on the album – sharing writing credits only on “I Wanna Be Rich” – Reggie is listed as contributing vocals, flute, flugelhorn, and drum programming, while Vincent has an even longer list of contributions, being credited with vocals, trombone, flugelhorn, keyboards, vocoder, and drum programming.

While All The Way was Reggie and Vincent’s debut album as Calloway, it was by no means their debut. In fact, they’re actually a two time one hit wonder, and they played a major role in shaping R&B music over multiple decades.

The musical story of the Calloway brothers started in the ‘70s, when Reggie was attending Kentucky State University, and formed the synth-funk band Midnight Star with some fellow students in 1976, adding his younger brother to the band as the lone member who wasn’t enrolled at KSU.

SOLAR Records owner Dick Griffey discovered the band when they had a showcase in New York City in 1978, and having liked what he heard, he signed the them to a deal.

Little did he know at the time the signing would turn out to be incredibly important in the history of R&B, and a seed from which would grow many of the acts that would define the genre in the ‘90s.

First, however, Midnight Star had to get to work.

After three albums that had resulted in moderate notoriety, in 1983 Midnight Star were working on their fourth album, No Parking on the Dance Floor, when Griffey asked Reggie and the band if they knew of any other talented groups in the Ohio area.

Calloway and Midnight Star had launched a production company named Mid-Star, to which they’d recently signed a group named The Deele (pronounced The Deal). Reggie pitched The Deele to Griffey, who immediately signed them based solely off the recommendation. No demo tape, no showcase, no listening session.

The Deele would turn out to be quite the big deal, as the band included two guys you may have heard of – Kenneth “Babyface” Edmunds, and L.A. Reid.

In a perfect confluence of incredible trust, and perhaps even more incredible luck, Griffey had just signed the group that had the eventual foundation of LaFace Records without ever having heard them!

Apparently everyone with the last name Griffey could hit a home run.

Reggie produced The Deele’s 1983 debut album, Street Beat, which featured the song “Body Talk,” a moderate hit that peaked at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached #3 on the Hot Black Singles chart.

Six years, and two albums later, L.A. Reid and Babyface left The Deele and founded LaFace Records, which would go on to give us TLC, Toni Braxton, Usher, Outkast, Pink, Ciara, and Goodie Mob, among others, before it was absorbed into RCA Records in 2011.

Rewinding back to 1983, in addition to Reggie working on The Deele’s album, in June of that year he and Midnight Star released No Parking on the Dance Floor. It would go on to be their greatest success, achieving double platinum status.

The album cut “Slow Jam” was co-written by Babyface, and the single “Freak-A-Zoid” reached #66 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #2 on the Hot Black Singles chart.

The band’s fifth album, Planetary Invasion, gave them their biggest single, “Operator,” which would peak at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reach the top spot on the Hot Black Singles chart.

It was Midnight Star’s only Billboard Top 40 hit, so with this Midnight Star song, and the Calloway song “I Wanna Be Rich,” the Calloway brothers have the unique distinction of having been one hit wonders TWICE.

That’s gotta be a pretty exclusive club to be in.

Midnight Star’s 1986 album, Headlines, would be their final one with the Calloways, who left the band to focus on solo work.

During their time with Midnight Star they’d begun writing and producing songs for other artists, including Klymaxx (“Meeting in the Ladies Room”), and The Whispers (“Contagious”). After their departure from the band they penned and produced hits for Teddy Pendergrass (“Joy”), Gladys Knight & the Pips (“Love Overboard”), Natalie Cole (“Jump Start”), and LeVert (“Casanova”). The latter being an absolute jam!

It didn’t take long for Reggie and Vincent to decide to step back into the limelight, as just one year after leaving Midnight Star they formed Calloway.

Their run as Calloway would be a short one, however. After their follow up to All The Way, 1992’s Let’s Get Smooth, failed to produce a hit, they decided to return to being behind the scenes, and focus on writing, and production. This has included having a co-writing credit on the NSYNC album No Strings Attached, which when it was released in 2000 had the highest first week sales of any album ever (2.4 million). Only Adele’s 25 has topped it since (3.378 million).

Reggie has also released music as a solo artist via his own label, Spiral Galaxy Entertainment, and owns the publishing company Calloco Music, Inc.

While “I Wanna Be Rich” was Calloway’s biggest hit, Reggie has proven throughout the years that he doesn’t want to be the only one who’s rich. Passionate about helping artists navigate the business of music, he serves as the Director of Music Royalty Funding at Sound Royalties, and was the co-founder and co-owner of Royalty Exchange. Through these endeavors he’s become an advocate for artists, working on developing options for them to receive advances without giving up ownership of their creative works.

Vincent Calloway seems to be leading a quieter life. While he still lists being a musician and recording artist in his Instagram bio, he also notes he’s an illustrator, and a martial artist, and most of his social media content focuses on his artwork.

The brothers do still work on music together. Midnight Star reunited in 2000 with many of the original members, and released the album 15th Avenue in 2002, and Reggie and Vincent have written, and provided vocals for songs in support of various causes, from hurricane relief, to St. Jude.

Most recently, they released a 35th anniversary version of “I Wanna Be Rich” at the end of 2024.

Rewinding back to the original version of the song, I dropped the needle on All The Way, and found three songs, other than “I Wanna Be Rich,” that you should hear.

“Love Circles”

 

Sometimes – OK, oftentimes – R&B music is bedroom music … or at least “let’s get into the bedroom” music, and that is definitely the case with “Love Circles.” A fantastic slow jam about two people desiring a romance with each other, but never getting the timing right, “Love Circles” is a song that could make sure you and your significant other don’t miss your opportunity for romance.

As a bonus, they included some classic ‘80s sax.

Side note – “Love Circles” would’ve been a perfect song to put on a mixtape for someone you’re trying to go out with (yes, I still think about this type of thing).

“Sugar Free”

 

Much like “Love Circles,” “Sugar Free” is another great bedroom song.

I find it really odd that the record label didn’t embrace either of them as a potential single. Perhaps someone up in the offices wasn’t feelin’ the love at that time, but with songs like these, he or she could’ve been feeling the love.

A missed opportunity on multiple levels.

“Sir Lancelot”

 

A get-the-party-started, everyone onto the dance floor, jam, “Sir Lancelot” was the second single off All The Way, and I have no idea how it wasn’t a mega-hit. The beat practically compels you to move.

This song belongs in every New Jack Swing playlist, and if you put it on today I’m sure multiple generations of music fans would go wild. In fact, I invite every DJ to test that theory … especially if they see me in the crowd.

Until next time, here’s to discovering more great music from one hit wonders!