"All This Love" is a single by
DeBarge, released on October 17, 1982. The song was released as the third and final single from their second studio
album of the same title on the
Gordy label. The single would help DeBarge rise to R&B stardom. A cover version of the song was recorded by
Patti LaBelle on her 1994 gold album Gems. A video for her version was also filmed.
Overview
History
In 1982, having released one album that did not go anywhere, DeBarge went into recording their follow-up with their own songs, chiefly handled by
El DeBarge, who was also the main lead singer and focal point of the group, including the song, "All This Love", in which DeBarge sung in a high tenor and had written it in a year earlier in hopes then-label mate and longtime idol
Marvin Gaye would record it.
Gaye had served as El's inspiration for the song, hinted in the group's vocal harmonizing in the final part of the song, which was similar to Gaye's "
I Want You" vocal style period. By the following year, Gaye had left the label and DeBarge ended up recording it themselves. Producing this song with
Berry Gordy's niece Iris, the single was issued as the third release from All This Love.
The song was featured in a 1983 episode of the US daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives.
Reception
Much like their first hit, "
I Like It", "All This Love" was immediately embraced by the
R&B community while the group gained a pop fan base. In the US, The single reached number 5 on the BillboardR&B chart, number 17 on the
Billboard Hot 100,[1] and number one on the Adult Contemporary chart,[2] helping its parent album of the same name reach
gold status by the summer of 1983.
Personnel
Lead vocals, keyboards and rhythm arrangement -
El DeBarge
It was covered by American jazz violinist
John Blake on his 1987 album Adventures of the Heart with vocals by
Gwen Guthrie.[3]
Pop group Scene 23 from the WB show
Popstars recorded a version on the song for their debut album, Introducing Scene 23.
Detroit-based guitarist Calvin Brooks recorded an instrumental version of it on his 1992 album My Favorite Thing.[4]
The song was re-recorded by R&B legend
Patti LaBelle on her 1994 album, Gems. LaBelle's version, produced by
Teddy Riley, was released as a single and peaked at #42 on the Billboard R&B chart. DeBarge and LaBelle later sung the song together as a duet live in concert.
Mexican-American percussionist
Pete Escovedo, along with saxophonist
Gerald Albright did an instrumental version of "All This Love" for Escovedo's 1995 album Flying South, which had considerable air time on
smooth jazz radio stations.[5]