Forever Your Girl
1988 studio album by Paula Abdul
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Forever Your Girl is the debut album by American singer Paula Abdul. It was released on June 13, 1988 through Virgin Records.[a] The album was Abdul's breakthrough into the music industry after being a choreographer for high-profile clients including the California Raisins, George Michael, ZZ Top, Duran Duran and most notably Janet Jackson. At the time of its release, it was the most successful debut album and was the first time that a female artist scored four US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles from her first album. It is currently certified 7× Platinum by the RIAA.
- Creation Audio (Minneapolis)
- Studio Masters (Los Angeles)
- Silverlake (Los Angeles)
- Kren Studio (Los Angeles)
- JHL Sound (Pacific Palisades)
- Studio 55 (Los Angeles)
- Cochrane (Studio City)
- Fantasy (Berkeley)
- House of Music (West Orange)
| Forever Your Girl | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 13, 1988 | |||
| Recorded | October 1987–April 1988 | |||
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 44:35 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producers | ||||
| Paula Abdul chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Forever Your Girl | ||||
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Background
In 1987, Paula Abdul, who had built up her professional reputation as a choreographer for the Los Angeles Lakers and high-profile artists including George Michael, ZZ Top, Duran Duran and Janet Jackson, recorded a demo using her savings.[4] Soon thereafter, she was signed to Virgin Records by Jeff Ayeroff, who had worked in marketing at A&M Records with Jackson. Although she was a skilled dancer and choreographer, Abdul's vocal abilities were unimpressive and with Ayeroff's support, she underwent training for her mezzo-soprano voice.[5][6] Ayeroff recalled signing Abdul to a recording contract years later, stating: "She said, 'I can sing, you know. I want to do an album.' Paula's in our industry. Here's someone with a personality and she's gorgeous, and she can dance. If she can sing, she could be a star. So she went into the studio and cut a demo record and she could sing."[7] The album was made on a budget of $72,000.[8]
Release and reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [9] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | C[10] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [11] |
| Los Angeles Daily News | C[12] |
| Number One |  [13] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [14] |
On October 7, 1989, 64 weeks after its July 23, 1988, debut on the chart, Forever Your Girl hit number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, the longest an album was on the market before hitting number one.[15] It returned to the number one spot in early 1990 for 9 weeks, the album spending 10 weeks in total at number one. The album was eventually certified seven times Platinum in the US by the RIAA and has sold over 12 million copies worldwide.[16]
The album includes four number one Billboard Hot 100 singles: "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted" and "Opposites Attract",[16] which places Forever Your Girl in a tie (with several other artists) for second most number-one songs from a single album, and ties it for the most number ones in a debut album. Abdul is only one of three artists, the others being George Michael and Mariah Carey, to have four number-one singles from their debut album. The re-released "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" reached number three, and "Knocked Out" reached number 41. The album also reached number four on the Billboard R&B album chart, while "Straight Up", "Opposites Attract", "Knocked Out", and "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" all reached the top 10 of the R&B tracks chart.
By 1998, Billboard magazine reported that Forever Your Girl was the most successful album released by the Virgin Records label.[17] The Los Angeles Daily News called the album "a fine starmaker vehicle", stating that Abdul "applies a come-hither whisper to a likable batch of melodies... What's frustrating is that Abdul's voice is buried beneath bustling arrangements on tunes like 'Opposites Attract' and 'Knocked Out'."[12]
Accolades
| Year | Organization | Accolade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | American Music Awards | Favorite Pop/Rock Album | Won |
| Billboard Music Awards | #1 World Album | Nominated | |
| Juno Awards | International Album of the Year |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Way That You Love Me" | Oliver Leiber | Leiber | 5:22 |
| 2. | "Knocked Out" |
| 3:52 | |
| 3. | "Opposites Attract" | Leiber | Leiber | 4:24 |
| 4. | "State of Attraction" | Ballard | 4:07 | |
| 5. | "I Need You" | Johnson | 5:01 | |
| 6. | "Forever Your Girl" | Leiber | Leiber | 4:58 |
| 7. | "Straight Up" | Elliot Wolff | Wolff | 4:11 |
| 8. | "Next to You" |
| C. Williams | 4:26 |
| 9. | "Cold Hearted" | Wolff | Wolff | 3:51 |
| 10. | "One or the Other" |
| C. Williams | 4:10 |
| Total length: | 44:22 | |||
Personnel
- Paula Abdul – lead vocals
- Marvin Gunn and Bruce DeShazer aka Tony Christin – backing vocals
- Peter Arata – mixing assistant
- Babyface – keyboards, producer, backing vocals
- Glen Ballard – drums, producer, programming
- Russ Bracher – engineer
- Pattie Brooks – backing vocals
- Wally Buck – engineer
- Francis Buckley – engineer, mixing
- Annette Cisneros – assistant engineer
- Dave Cochran – guitar, backing vocals
- Keith "KC" Cohen – mixing, producer
- Delisa Davis – backing vocals
- Tami Day – backing vocals
- Jimmy Demers – backing vocals
- Eddie M. – saxophone on "I Need You"
- Al Fleming – assistant engineer
- Basil Fung – guitar
- Jon Gass – engineer, mixing
- Bobby Gonzales – guitar
- Danny Grigsby – assistant engineer
- Evelyn Halus – backing vocals
- Dann Huff – guitar
- Tim Jaquette – engineer, mixing
- Jesse Johnson – drums, keyboards, producer
- Cliff Jones – assistant engineer, engineer
- Kayo – synthesizer, synthesizer bass
- Oliver Leiber – arranger, drum programming, guitar, keyboards, producer, programming
- Jeff Lorber – drum programming, engineer, guest artist, keyboards, producer
- Yvette Marine – backing vocals
- Pat McDougal – assistant engineer
- Lucia Newell – backing vocals
- Ricky P. – keyboards
- Pebbles – guest artist, backing vocals
- L.A. Reid – drums, guest artist, percussion programming, producer
- Angel Rogers – backing vocals
- Josh Schneider – assistant engineer
- Daryl Simmons – backing vocals
- Bob Somma – guitar
- St. Paul – arranger, bass, keyboards, Organ, vocoder
- Kendall Stubbs – engineer
- Randy Weber – programming, synthesizer
- Steve Weise – engineer
- Troy Williams – alto saxophone on "Forever Your Girl"
- Wild Pair – vocals, backing vocals
Charts
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| Chart | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 (Women)[44] | 10 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[45] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[46] | 7× Platinum | 800,000[47] |
| Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[48] | Gold | 10,000* |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[49] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
| Sweden (GLF)[50] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[51] | Gold | 25,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[52] | Platinum | 300,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[53] | 7× Platinum | 7,000,000^ |
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* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||