The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
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BOBBY CALDWELL
“WHAT YOU WON’T DO FOR LOVE”
(BOBBY CALDWELL, Kettner)
Clouds 11
No. 9 February 24, 1979
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Bobby Caldwell has inhabited two distinct musical worlds. Those who have written about him usually
praise one side of him and totally ignore the other. Rock’n’rollers, after all, don’t usually mess with songs
that sound like they could have been on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. How is it possible for
Bobby Caldwell to make hard-rock records with Johnny Winter and RICK DERRINGER one day, and sing
well-baked disco ballads the next?
Born in Manhattan on August 15, 1951, Bobby pulled together his first group, the Rooftops, during his
teens. At 19, his new group, Katmandu, recorded an album for Mainstream Records. The LP didn’t sell
well, but it did catch the attention of Little Richard, who hired the band to be an opening act for his Las
Vegas appearances. Caldwell left the group months later and joined up with Johnny Winter’s band.
After a live album with Winter, Bobby joined ex-IRON BUTTERFLY bassist Lee Dorman for an album with
Dorman’s Captain Beyond. He moved on to ex-McCoy Rick Derringer’s band for the All-American Boy (
1971) album, then played alongside ex-Yardbird Keith Relf in the short-lived Armaggedon. One highly
collectible album later, Bob vanished, but not for long. He reappeared on later albums by Derringer,
Winter, and Captain Beyond, also making scads of TV commercials and recording tracks and the theme
for Walt Disney’s “New Mickey Mouse Club.”
After 20 years in the shadows, Bob stepped out with a solo release on Cloud Records, a T.K. subsidiary.
Could this be the same Bobby Caldwell? With its smooth veneer, “What You Won’t Do for Love” sounded
like something a tipsy George Benson might have recorded. The ballad fared well, even though it
surprised listeners who were more familiar with the hard rockin’ Caldwell. Two follow-ups, both in a
similar vein–“Coming Down From My Love” (#42; R&B:#28,1980) and “All of My Love” (#77; R&B: #67,
1982)–made the Hot 100, and a few more singles placed on the R & B listings.
“I think that my album [1978’s Bobby Caldwell, which featured “What You Won’t Do for Love”] is nice,”
Bobby told Soul. “You can listen to it over and over again, but I know there is nothing there that really
sticks its foot up your ass.”
Caldwell switched to MCA Records, where he continued to work the terrain created by his lone Top 40 hit.
Bobby has also become known for his songwriting abilities–Roy Ayers, Peabo Bryson, Natalie Cole,
Roberta Flack, CHERYL LYNN, and Dionne Warwick have all recorded his compositions. Pete Cetera and
Amy Grant topped the pop charts in 1983 with Bob’s “The Next Time I Fall.”
In the late ’90s, Bobby starred in the theatrical production The Rat Pack, in the role of Frank Sinatra.