Quiet storm music

yee-uh

we don't have to take our
clothes off
to have a good time
no no

"Quiet storm is a late-night radio format, featuring soulful slow jams, pioneered in the mid 1970s by then station intern Melvin Lindsey Melvin Lindsey (1955-1992) was an African-American radio and television personality in the Washington, DC area widely known for originating the "Quiet Storm" late-night music programming format.
Lindsey began his broadcast career as an intern at Howard University radio station WHUR-FM as an intern. In 1976, he brought "The Quiet Storm" to the station's late-night lineup, titled after a romantic hit single by tenor crooner Smokey Robinson. The show's soulfully melodic, moody musical fare made it a phenomenal success, and "The Quiet Storm" spawned scores of imitations in stations across the country serving a black, adult, urban demographic. Lindsey's show also gave rise to a category of music of the same name.
..... Click the link for more information. at Howard University Howard University is a historically black college in Washington, D.C. It was established by a congressional charter in 1867, and much of its early funding came from the Freedmen's Bureau.

Howard University has played an important role in civil rights history on a number of occassions. After being refused admission to the then-segregated University of Maryland Law School, a young Thurgood Marshall enrolled at Howard instead. There he studied under Charles Houston, a Harvard Law School graduate and leading civil rights lawyer who at the time was the dean of Howard's law school. Houston took Marshall under his wing, and the two forged a friendship that would last for the remainder of Houston's life and forever change America.
..... Click the link for more information. Radio, WHUR-FM, in Washington, D.C. Smokey Robinson Smokey Robinson (born February 19, 1940) is an African-American R&B soul singer and songwriter.

He was born William Robinson in Detroit, Michigan. In 1955, Robinson helped found The Miracles and became lead singer. The group issued a few somewhat successful singles on End Records and Chess Records. In the 1950s, Robinson met Berry Gordy, Jr., founder of Detroit's Motown Records, which became his label. The two men had a synergistic relationship, with Robinson providing a foundation for Motown's hit-making success and Gordy acting as a mentor for the budding singer and songwriter.
..... Click the link for more information. 's like-titled hit single, released in 1975 as the title track to his third solo album, lent its name to the format and to the radio program that introduced it to the public, as well.

When Lindsey's "The Quiet Storm" debuted in 1976, the first tune on the turntable was the seven-minute-long Robinson hit, which introduced the slot every night thereafter. When Smokey's trademark tenor voice wafted out over the airwaves, listeners knew it was time to cuddle up with a loved one, or kick back in pensive solitude for four hours of melodically soulful mood music. The format was an immediate success, becoming so popular that within a few years, virtually every station in the U.S. with a core black, urban listenership adopted a similar format for its graveyard slot.

Tragically, Melvin Lindsey died of AIDS in 1992, but the "Quiet Storm" format he originated remains a staple in radio programming today, almost 30 years after its inception.

Today, quiet storm is also a loose term given to a broad amalgam of mellow, slow-groove rhythm and blues Rhythm and Blues (R & B) is a musical marketing term introduced in the United States in the late 1940s by Billboard magazine. It replaced the term race music, which was deemed offensive. To some extent, the kind of music it is attached to has changed to whatever form of contemporary music is popular with African-American pop musicians and audiences.P>In its first manifestation, rhythm
..... Click the link for more information. /soul music This article is about the novel Soul Music. For the type of music, see Soul music.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soul Music is a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, published in 1994. Like many of the Discworld novels, it introduces an element of modern society into the magical and vaguely late medieval, early modern world of Discworld, in this case, Rock and Roll music and stardom, with nearly disastrous consequences.
..... Click the link for more information. and smooth jazz offerings of the type featured on Melvin Lindsey's WHUR program, and on a myriad of other stations that followed his lead.

Initially targeted primarily at a black audience, quiet storm music is distinguished by understated dynamics, relaxed tempos and rhythms, and romantic sentiment. Quiet storm music is similar to soft rock and adult contemporary styles, but it is unmistakably rooted in R&B. At its best, the style features an urbane sophistication and subdued soulfulness.

Quiet storm programming is credited with launching the careers of industry legend Luther Vandross Luther Vandross (born April 20, 1951 in New York, New York) is an African-American soul singer. He started his singing career in the 1970s as a session vocalist, and eventually making his breakthrough as a guest singer with the group Chic. The first instant hit from him was "Searching."

It was only in the 1980s that Vandross' career skyrocketed, with albums such as Forever, for Always, for Love and Give Me The Reason. When Vandross produced his 1989 greatest hits album, The Best of Luther Vandross...The Best Of Love, he ended up hitting the Top Ten for the first time with the power ballad Here And Now.
..... Click the link for more information. and the sultry, sophisticated Anita Baker Anita Baker (born December 20, 1957) is an American soul and adult contemporary singer.

Anita Baker won Grammy Awards in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1996. Her music has been referred to in the soul subcategories of Quiet Storm and Urban contemporary and she has also forayed into gospel music and R&B. She was the featured musical guest on Saturday Night Live on April 11, 1987.

DiscographyBest of Anita Baker (2002)
Rhythm of Love (1994)
Compositions (1990)
Giving You the Best That I Got (1988)
Rapture (1986)
Songstress (1983)

..... Click the link for more information. . Classic quiet storm musical fare are Frankie Beverly and Maze's dreamy "Golden Time of Day," Marvin Gaye Marvin Gaye (April 2, 1939 - April 1, 1984) was an American soul and R&B singer who gained international fame during the 1960s.
Gaye was born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. and added the "e" to imitate Sam Cooke, who did the same; he was born in Washington, DC, son of an ordained minister in the House of God, a conservative Christian sect which takes some elements of Pentecostalism and Orthodox Judaism. The church has very strict codes of conduct and does not celebrate any holidays. Gaye got his start singing in the church choir, later learning to play the piano and drums to escape from his physically abusive father.
..... Click the link for more information. 's lush LP, Let's Get It On, the orchestrations of Philadelphia Soul For the music genre, see Philadelphia soul.

The Philadelphia Soul is a team in the Arena Football League. The team is owned in part by Jon Bon Jovi. The Soul began play in February of 2004, and splits its home games between the Wachovia Spectrum and the Wachovia Center, home of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association. The Soul play in the Eastern Division of the National Conference of the AFL.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the ultra-smooth recordings of Al Green Al Green (b. April 13, 1946) is an American soul and later, a gospel singer, born in Forrest City, Arkansas. He started out in a quartet called the Green Brothers, which toured extensively in the mid 1950s in the south, but then the Greens moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Al Green was kicked out of the group by his father because he was caught listening to Jackie Wilson.

Green formed a group called
..... Click the link for more information. . Quiet storm was most popular with baby boomers from the mid-'70's to the early 90's, after which time mainstream R&B began taking on a much harder and more hip hop influence, image and approach.

But quiet storm music hasn't gone away. It's merely evolved, often with a hip-hop infusion. It also has a new name. "Neo soul Nu soul (AKA "neo soul") is a musical genre that fuses R&B, 1970s style soul, and hip hop. It is usually said to have begun in the late 1980s with New Jack Swing artists like Guy and, later, early Boyz II Men. The originator of proper "hip-hop soul" is Mary J. Blige, whose 1992 debut, What's The 411?, has proven enormously influential to the later genre of nu soul. In the mid-to-late-1990s, artists like D'Angelo (
..... Click the link for more information. " is simply new jack quiet storm. A generation of music aficionados may never have heard Robinson's hit that gave quiet storm music its name, but they enjoy crooners like Brian McKnight, Joe, Jaheim, D'Angelo and Maxwell, as well as female recording artists like Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige (born January 11, 1971) is an American R&B and soul singer and record producer. She was born in Savannah, Georgia but grew up in the housing projects of Yonkers, New York, eventually dropping out of school before graduating.

Blige's musical career began after she recorded "Caught Up in the Rapture" (Anita Baker) with a mall karaoke machine. The tape found its way to Uptown Records, who signed her as a back-up singer. Up-and-coming producer Sean "Puffy" Combs took an interest, however, and helped her with her critically acclaimed debut, What's the 411? (1991, 1991 in music). The album's mix of hip hop and soul music is sometimes called the beginning of nu soul.
..... Click the link for more information. , India Arie, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Alicia Keys.

The music lives."

I created a quiet storm station on Pandora using Barry White as the starting point. Good songs so far:

Four Tops - Ain't No Woman
Marvin Gaye - Soon I'll Be Loving You Again
Rose Royce - I Wanna Get Next to You

Billy Stewart - Sitting in the Park = AWESOME

short thread for underrated genre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODKeI2ieA4Y

^ so dope.

w/o looking who posted, i thought was you or deej, and uh, you guys were last two posters. haw.

heard sade's "sweetest taboo" w/"quiet storm" in lyrics on radio this morn and thought about the genre in general.

quiet storm version of "moments of love" arguably better than original

i will not make that argument right now, but some days i will

also the smokey song that inspired the name is all kinds of fire!

David Toop - Sugar and Poison Soul Ballads CD

^ this thread

tried to sell my fiancee on playing that con-funk-shun track at our wedding, i think she wants to avoid playing "bedroom" music in front of the 'rents, which i understand.

Float On - The Floaters!!!

That's a good one, especially when Larry makes his appearance.

Yea it is good, but is it really quiet storm? Is every 70s Philly inspired ballad quiet storm? I associate quiet storm more with Luther Vandross.

Maybe Float On isn't quite Quiet Storm; but it's definitely meant for late night/candle lit moments, which is what I understand Quiet Storm to be about. I've dreamt of djing a night of this kind of music, but it's never happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl2v9GrU35U

luther def released some very non-quiet storm

i guess i associate it more w/ 80s production values, tho

I heard lots of quiet storm radio programs and they have all played a mix of late 70's early 80's.

btw dude who played guitar on that con funk shun track also wrote & produced music for mc hammer in the late 80s/early 90s o_O

isleys totally own this genre fwiw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz51RJala7Y

this guitar solo is imprinted permanently in my brain

Has anyone ever play this music with a lady friend over and gotten down to it? That is it's intended purpose.

also aaliyah does an amazing cover of it. really does it justice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNSggjSkcOg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgnZ00cI4MI

I grew up in the DC area and heard Melvin Lindsey and quickly grew tired of WHUR's quiet storm programming yet I still love listening to 70s philly soul. The songs that are played on WHUR somehow seem more mellow and less uh soulful. Maybe this is not making sense and I need to re-listen to the station or to reexamine my own defintion of quiet storm. As an aside, I have a number of times in recent years attended 70s soul revival shows with Philly acts and the Stylistics and the Dramatics and groups like that, which I have enjoyed. I thought these groups had crossover pop appeal, but interestingly at these live shows in the DC area attended by several thousand people, me and my significant other are among a very very small handful of white people there.

i'm djing a soul night this weekend and really want to play a bunch of stuff like this, but feel i need to keep the tempo up. don't want people getting nasty in the back of the club (or do i?)

love that isley's 'don't say goodnight' track. was used in dilla's donuts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM3dYshqtoY

Oh Honey is so good, wasn't it sampled? Ice Cube?

Delegation
Promise of Love: (State 1977)
* "Oh Honey"
3XDope - "Funky Dividends"
Ahmad - "Back in the Day"
Brothers Like Outlaw - "Good Vibrations"
Coolio - "Ugly Bitches"
Geto Boys - "Quickie"
Ice Cube - "When Will They Shoot?"
Naughty by Nature - "O.P.P."
Poison Clan - "Ho Stories"
Poison Clan - "Ho Stories II"
Red Hot Lover Tone - "Pudgee"
Total - "Kissin'You/Oh Honey"
Trellini - "I Wanna Be Yours"
UMC - "Blue Cheese"

Wow, O.P.P.?? Really, I'll have to listen to that song again.

ya. i don't hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeY-RVUH41k

the isley's influence on kells is pretty strong

oh no doubt

btw my boss w/ the corny taste in rap has redeemed herself by bumping "caravan of love" whenever possible

Eric Harvey on the genre

It was great. I posted this blast from the past to him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If7bELSqWy0

quiet storm version of "moments of love" arguably better than original

i will not make that argument right now, but some days i will

― sexual alien v. sexual predator (m bison), Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Didn't realise there was a "quiet storm" mix of "Moments in Love". Wow.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/wbls-quiet-storm-dj-vaughn-harper-dies-71-article-1.2705633

an audio exposition of the pfork article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1BdVnpaBtY

Courtesy of 96.3 the quiet storm in DC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWtrc6WnGDE

this one's incredible. proto KING vibes

Shirley Murdock "As we Lay"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htVUHrDJqeI

Ok what is this genre because I need more.

That basehead song Josh posted upthread is magnific.

musical bread+butter to me. esp 80s stuff-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqFkHWcCjUY
gwen guthrie - "thrill me" (1985)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6KrMxOjwiQ
bobby brown - "rock wit'cha (quiet storm mix)" (1988)

those are 2 nice ones

Hell yeah, when I lived in Long Island the Quiet Storm on WBLS was the only thing I listened to on the radio.

That basehead song Josh posted upthread is magnific

what track is that? not showing up here.

It was great. I posted this blast from the past to him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If7bELSqWy0

― Josh in Chicago

It doesn’t quite sound like the other quiet storm tracks in here but I loved it.

This thread has some great songs even if I’m still a bit confused on what sound it encapsulates.

Thanks for reposting, Moka. Quiet Storm is a radio format here, basically slow adult contemporary r&b tracks, often from the 80's and 90's.

I agree that this Basehead track doesn't quite fit in, but i like it.

I also found r&b genres across decades confusing, 80s can be very different from 60s

genre named from this perfect jam right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v1GfHWFk1Y

thread bookmarked because I'm hoping to find songs that sound like Quiet Storm

also=always

yep, genre name comes from smokey's album. allmusic is succinct and otm for this one. recs are definitely a good beginner's guide too: https://www.allmusic.com/style/quiet-storm-ma0000004425

i always understood quiet storm to be like the american r+b version of lovers rock, i.e. more of a sometimes vibe (marvin, for example, gets quiet storm play but isn't strictly a "quiet storm" artist). musically, much like lovers rock, it basically means slow jams. quiet storm is generally a lot more lush, but became a little less so in the 80s with heavy reliance falling away from live orchestras.

Austin, please post more songs itt.

So, is “oh honey” posted upthread considered quiet storm? Because that’s one of the most perfect songs ever made.

From what I can infer from the songs I’ve heard itt it’s sort of a genre of r&b that tends to minimalism or rather non-histrionic r&b?

Like the R&B version of MOR rock?

I don't know, as i recall that St. Giga Tide of Sound Archive thing had some quiet storm tracks mixed in among the new age/ambient/smooth jazz & ocean sounds. It works very well in that context. It's unobtrusive.

'Oh Honey'fits, if anything may be a little proto- but it's a radio format, or started as one. I think it's more a case of identifying a certain quality in tracks that are not explicitly intended to be Quiet Storm tracks, that might belong to some other style of r&b. And sort of tagging them as Quiet Storm by playing them alongside other tracks that share a similar vibe. Like unintentional ASMR. I don't know what I'm talking about obv. But thinking of it as a GENRE seems like it might be the wrong approach.

best song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht2g38A3nVI

Paris - I Choose You

also this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3u946A2TUw

Josie James - Win Your Love

not to mention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYAmSbg-uE0

Billy Ocean - Love Zone

that paris track is gorgeous!

great billy ocean video, yacht r&b vibes

since quiet storm knows no borders here's coleção by cassiano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfkcwTGJh_8

uk gang:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1i9i-bDMkk

Keni Stevens - Blue Moods

actually I withdraw that one, not as good as I remembered. or maybe i was thinking of a different one of his

"oh honey" is definitive quiet storm in my experience. even if you don't consider it quiet storm, it's still an unwavering classic and it delights me to no end to see folks enjoying it!

nick! uk folks had plenty of classic material in this style. i mean, look at "oh honey" - delegation was british!

for other classic uk stuff in this mode, i'm sorry to repeat myself but loose ends made one of the alltime pillars of quiet storm-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwZfjDQtOro
"you can't stop the rain" (1985)

(loose ends are also quietly some of the best mid-late 80s r+b and one of my favorite bands of the past few years)

Xxpost: ok that makes more sense! Whatever it is it’s sounds beautiful.

Xpost: Lovely Paris track. Ty

found this list of heavy hitters on wiki for anyone interested

i recommend everything with patrice rushen's name on it anyway, but she's also got some pretty heavy hitters in this category too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QunXfmXn88U
"where there is love" (1982)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6bzv3Vx9uY
"remind me" (1982)

"As We Lay" is a great song but the version I knew first was this Miami bass cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mszg7dV4B8

both versions are classics. kelly price version was a hit too but it's probably my least fav of the three

the 12" mixes of shirley murdock's original are also worth a listen: the horizontal mix and the midnight mix

neither is dramatically different but they were probably good additions for the quiet storm programs that had already been playing the original since before it broke through nationally

really feeling this thread, thank you all

Love this stuff (and this thread).

This feels like one of the ur-tracks (Chi-Lites, Coldest Days of My Life):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z56Q_M3LxHI

Al Jarreau - Lock All The Gates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpnv7EPAyaQ

Eddie Kendricks - Just Memories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os0PPQRQolA

Love quiet storm!

Don't know about anyone else, but growing up somewhere where quiet storm radio wasn't a thing, my main association with the term is that verse in Sade's 'Sweetest Taboo' (there's a quiet storm and it never felt like this before etc)

"the coldest days of my life" is amazing

some favs (not deep cuts by any means lol) not yet mentioned itt i have heard on quiet storm programming at some pt (which is to say in recent years, as i was not alive for the format's genesis/heyday)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35xAkQoNx1U
the blackbyrds "walking in rhythm" (1974)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlgp-jjHzC0
minnie riperton "inside my love" (1975)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyWfFRa4M1Y
rose royce "wishing on a star" (1977)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgZOKpDoIs0
roberta flack & donny hathaway "the closer i get to you" (1977)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGib6okEeZ4
luther vandross "a house is not a home" (1981)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImoSl0VtoXY
force m.d.'s "tender love" (1985)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2tyZjh-eD0
janet jackson "funny how time flies (when you're having fun)" (1986)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFI2U8YEcx4
alexander o'neal "sunshine" (1987)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz-NhGanOAE
brian mcknight "one last cry" (1992)

the fairly unremarkable mainstream rap station where i live now has what it calls a quiet storm segment on weeknights and while some of its selections are the expected fare, others would certainly be considered bizarre by most that do the format

oh gosh i also cannot neglect to mention this one as it's rly one of my faves ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlLrn6AVV2s
deniece williams "free" (1976)

ugh okay i have to post this one too. last one i swear!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4whsPS3_8NM
silk "lose control" (1992)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A3Ys4iH4ZI

Sheree Brown - It's A Pleasure

Glad to see this thread take off. After I posted “As we lay” I went down a deep Roger Troutman hole. His Roger solo stuff has a lot of nice songs that would fit here, amongst all his electro funk jams

ugh i can't stop i'm sorry y'all :'(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNnb1NfLrK4
the temptations "just my imagination (running away with me)" (1971)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S2HNjfeaj4
norman connors featuring michael henderson "you are my starship" (1976)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ_snOkHeVk
the isley brothers "voyage to atlantis" (1977)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLmIN6oy7xo
herb alpert "making love in the rain" (1987)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7flrKMGfwjw
new edition "can you stand the rain" (1988)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25R1f4J7Jss
boyz ii men "please don't go" (1991)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_r79eenvS4
lisa fischer "how can i ease the pain" (1991)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WcWHZc8s2I
sade "no ordinary love" (1992)

Dexter Wansel “One million miles from the ground”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFte80Ew1CA

So many bangers!

Luther Vandross - Other Side of the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UCKIwlhSmQ

Willie Wright - Lady of the Year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aOo04w3dto

Maxwell - Pretty Wings (Uncut)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtBovYHx0vw

Woah at this New Edition track.

Ilx QS discord link pls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkZqRfk3ozE
patti labelle "if only you knew" (1983)

this one is absolutely gorgeous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyHvqZnr918
Jermaine Jackson - Castles Of Sand

new link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jYo96JX8Ck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWNPCuzv5a4
quincy jones ft. al b. sure!, james ingram, el debarge & barry white - "the erotic garden (after hours version)"

aka an extended mix of "the secret garden (sweet seduction suite)"

sorry that’s Gayest Storm, the best genre

oh janet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRnmqSGULl8

janet jackson — "come back to me (the abandoned heart mix)" (1990)

the dazz band - "heartbeat (12" mix)" (1984)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPPx6So8aIY

and a bit more janet...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLmIN6oy7xo
herb alpert feat lisa keith + janet jackson - "making love in the rain" (1987)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPKdo-4pX4M
Trina Perry - I'll Treat U Rite

for your contempo quiet storm needs, i submit the following for your consideration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHeW8McMBS8
lianne la havas - "weird fishes" (2020)

too starbucksy?