Howard Hewett left the group Shalamar in 1985 to start a solo career and in 1986 his debut album, I Commit To Love, was released on the Elektra label. Leon Sylvers III had shaped Shalamar’s dance-oriented sound as the house producer of Dick Griffey’s SOLAR Records. Griffey and Soul Train founder Don Cornelius put the group together and the trio released a collection of mainstream and club hits. Hewett’s solo voice went straight into a hardcore R&B love man sound. The songs on I Commit To Love were slower and moved at the pace of a patient courtship. Jazz bassist, songwriter, and producer Stanley Clarke co-wrote and produced “I’m For Real” with Hewett. Clarke’s versatility as a jazz player had already been tested in his musical partnership with George Duke, which produced the pop and R&B hit “Sweet Baby” five years earlier. “I’m For Real” soothed with a warm saxophone and Hewett’s impassioned promises. Hewett’s work with Clarke on “I’m For Real” helped him grow as a balladeer and they made an R&B top ten hit. In 2025, new generations are discovering and reacting to Hewett’s “I’m For Real.” He released the single “To Thee I Pray” in 2021. 

 

Is the new music market shrinking? 

Las Vegas May 2022
They've Invited Us BAAACK!!?
ABXO? pic.twitter.com/ovUKIbRTkB

— Anita Baker (@IAMANITABAKER) January 26, 2022

Is Anita Baker officially un-retired now that she has a Las Vegas residency? 

What made Howard Hewett publicly apologize to Jody Watley after 40 years?

Shalamar’s reputation as exclusive makers of party music was challenged in 1980 with the release of “This Is For The Lover In You.” The group was known for their feel-good songs like “Take That To The Bank,” “Uptown Festival, ” “Right In The Socket” and “Second Time Around.” As the brainchild of SOLAR Records founder and Soul Train booking agent Dick Griffey and Soul Train’s creator Don Cornelius, Shalamar was originally intended to make dance music. Group member Howard Hewett and songwriter Dana Meyers co-wrote “This Is For The Lover In You” which revealed Shalamar’s ability to deliver a ballad. Three For Love was their fourth album and was seen as the highest point in their creativity. “Make That Move” was the leading hit single from the album but “This Is For The Lover In You” became a “wedding song” and would be Shalamar’s entry into subsequent generations. Babyface made his own version in 1996 and got the classic lineup of Hewett, Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel on it with LL Cool J. They all performed the song together that year on the UK’s Top of The Pops. Shalamar recorded 10 albums collectively with various members before breaking up in 1990.  Jody Watley left the group and went solo and became a Grammy-winning pop star before the decade was over. Howard Hewett disbanded from Shalamar to become a platinum-selling R&B singer. Jeffrey Daniel taught Michael Jackson how to moonwalk and worked as a choreographer with Vanessa Williams, Sheena Easton, Paul McCartney and more. He became a judge for Nigerian Idol in 2010. Hewett, Daniel and Griffey’s daughter Carolyn still tour as Shalamar.

“Slow Dance” is the first single from Jody Watley’s Shalamar Reloaded line-up featuring Rosero McCoy and Nate Allen Smith. Watley says, “I really wanted ‘SlowDance’ to bridge the gap with classic and contemporary R&B before we totally take it to the dance floor,” says Watley. “It’s a nice change of pace and of course the soul duet is lost musical art form.”