Rod Temperton is arguably one of the funkiest white British guys that lived. While there are others, this man's discography, plus his time with Heatwave, was astouding. Here's a select few:

Boogie Nights - Heatwave

Always and Forever - Heatwave

The Groove Line - Heatwave

Rock with You - Michael Jackson

Off The Wall - Michael Jackson

Burn This Disco Out - Michael Jackson

Live in Me - Rufus and Chaka Khan

Stomp! - The Brothers Johnson

Give Me The Night - George Benson

Love X Love - George Benson

Do You Love Me? - Patti Austin

Baby Come To Me - Patti Austin & James Ingram

Love Is In Control - Donna Summer

Thriller - Michael Jackson

Baby Be Mine - Michael Jackson

The Lady In My Life - Michael Jackson

Yah Mo B There - James Ingram & Michael McDonald

Sweet Freedom - Michael McDonald

Man Size Love - Klymaxx

The Secret Garden - Quincy Jones (w/ Al. B Sure, James Ingram, El Debarge, Barry White)

Never Do You Wrong - Stephanie Mills

I mean... c'mon. If I were building a funk/pop playlist, 90% of the songs on this list alone (which aren't even all the songs he wrote) would be on it.

funny...just this morning I was listening to "Mystery" by Anita Baker.It's my favorite song by her and it was written by Rod Temperton.

RJOrion said:

Rod Temperton is one of the most unsung and overlooked greats in music history...i STILL listen to my Heatwave albums and Patti Austin albums regularly...and the work he did with Michael Jackson always gets overlooked because of the Quincy Jones branding of MJs adult catalog...but Mr.Temperton was a genius in his own right

And so terribly private. I read he died and was buried in a private ceremony before it was announced to the public. They used to call him The Invisible Man because of his lack of interviews or a public life.

I know so many MJ fans that love "Baby Be Mine," and totally forget or don't know that Rod wrote that. Plus "The Lady In My Life"! My God, talk about range.

Heatwave only had 6 or 7 albums. I really should just go through them.

Rod Temperton was an absolute genius. His music has been a part of my life since back in the 70s and it always will be. I know most people think of him first with Michael or Quincy but for me his work with Johnny Wilder Jr and Heatwave is unmatched! I listen to those Heatwave albums all the time to this day. "Always & Forever" is peerles.

I was looking at George Benson's Give Me The Night album credits. It came out just months after Off The Wall. The people on that album...

I think I forget how much people work together.

George Benson covered two Heatwave songs on his Give Me The Night album (Temperton wrote that track, too).

But on the album are people like Herbie Hancock.
Michael Boddicker, Greg Phillinganes, Bruce Swedien - all MJ people.
Then you have folks like Patrice Rushen, Larry Williams, and Clare Fisher (on keys and piano)! All Prince folks. (William played sax on The Glamorous Life).

The whole album was produced by Quincy Jones.

The cross pollination just amazes me sometimes.

TrivialPursuit said:

funkdoctorrock said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Then you have folks like Patrice Rushen, Larry Williams, and Clare Fisher (on keys and piano)! All Prince folks. (William played sax on The Glamorous Life).

Patrice Rushen...just helped on his first album. I wouldn't call her "Prince people.." She's a musician in her own right .. Whether jazz-funk or R&b...or scoring film and tv Larry Williams was a part of the Seawind horn section.. I call them the Jerry Hey horns.... But they were on alot of those Quincy productions As well as other Soul-Pop/R&B /Soft Rock acts My favorite horn section...

Patrice is a Prince-related person because he wrote songs about her, and later played with him briefly in 1989. They've been in each other's orbit in those years, albeit distant.

"Rock with You", yo.

Maybe my two fav pre-Dangerous MJ hits are "Rock with You" and "Baby Be Mine", probably because they don't get the airplay the others do. MJ fans are just built different, some of those hits like a "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" a moderate MJ stan has to be on play #3,885.475,476,375 or so.

I was in the middle of trying to crowbar in a "Got the Hots" reference and--of course, of course, also written by Rod Temperton.

[Edited 3/8/24 18:24pm]

RJOrion said:

Temperton wrote "Rock With You" for Heatwave's "Central Heating" album, but the band didnt like it...so he let Quincy have the song for Michael.

If that's true, that's a major plot point.

TrivialPursuit said:

RJOrion said:

TrivialPursuit said:

If that's true, that's a major plot point.

Yeah, its well documented online (ie., soultracks.com - searchbox "heatwave Rock With You" or "Off The Wall") and Heatwave lead singer Johnnie Wilder Jr. talked about it often in interviews before he passed..he lamented that it was a hit that got away.

That's crazy to think about. But what a win for MJ. I can't imagine OTW without it.

TrivialPursuit said:

RJOrion said:

Temperton wrote "Rock With You" for Heatwave's "Central Heating" album, but the band didnt like it...so he let Quincy have the song for Michael.

yep and I bet that they (Heatwave) regretted that decision that song was a major,major hit.

RJOrion said:

TrivialPursuit said:

That's crazy to think about. But what a win for MJ. I can't imagine OTW without it.

Thats happens quite a bit with the bigtime r&b/pop producers and hiphop beatmakers...i remember jimmy jam talking anout Janet Jackson passing on songs that became hits for Karyn White too...and hiphop producers Kanye West and JustBlaze mentioned JayZ turning down their beats that became hits for Alicia Keys (U Dont Know My Name) and Cam'ron (Oh Boy)

I heard that Rod also submitted "Mystery" to Michael Jackson for possible inclusion on Thriller.It was rejected but he gave it to Manhattan Transfer a year later and in 1986,Anita Baker covered it on her Rapture album.

SoulAlive said:

speaking of Manhattan Transfer,their 1983 single "Spice Of Life" was written by Rod Temperton and it is a nice track....reminds me of "Baby Be Mine".

RJOrion said:

SoulAlive said:

yep and I bet that they (Heatwave) regretted that decision that song was a major,major hit.

Johnnie Wilder Jr. said he definitely let one get away, but to his credit, he acknowledged that he probably couldnt have put the same magic on it that Mike did.

yeah and even without "Rock With You",Cental Heating is an excellent album anyway.

Bad white man. See, we have soul fam. Sweet Freedom, full version is amazing.

2freaky said:

Bad white man. See, we have soul fam. Sweet Freedom, full version is amazing.

"Sweet Freedom" and "Ya Mo B There" are my jams.

TrivialPursuit said: