Amii Stewart
Amii Stewart

Amii Stewart has a long list of accomplishments, from her hit disco interpretation of the Doors’ “Light My Fire” in 1979 to her portrayal of the iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday in her musical Lady Day (which Stewart produced in 2003). But after many years in the music industry, the Washington, DC native (who now lives in Italy and speaks fluent Italian) is still best known for her infectious 1978 remake of Eddie Floyd’s 1966 hit “Knock on Wood.” The original version of “Knock on Wood,” as envisioned by Floyd, producer Steve Cropper and Stax Records, was the essence of raw, gutsy, hard-edged Memphis soul. Yet Stewart had something different in mind, transforming “Knock on Wood” into disco-soul—and it worked really well. In 1979, Stewart’s version of “Knock on Wood” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, #6 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart and #5 on Billboard’s dance/club singles chart in the United States and was also a #6 pop single in the UK. But even though Stewart (who was born on January 29, 1956) is famous for dance music, she has recorded a variety of material over the years. And one of the albums that illustrates her flexibility is 1983’s self-titled Amii Stewart.

Produced by British composer Simon Boswell, Amii Stewart was originally released by RCA Records in Europe but was not released in the United States or Canada at the time (although some copies of the original 1983 LP reached North American stores as an import). Boswell, like Stewart, has never been shy about showing his diversity: along the way, he has worked with everyone from Italian star Renato Zero to Elton John to British new wave rockers Echo & the Bunnymen.

Stewart passionately taps into the post-disco/club energy of 1983 with “Nobody But Me,” “Take a Heart” (a cover of a 1965 hit by British Invasion rockers the Sorrows) and the single “Working Late Tonight” (which, in 1983, was also recorded by Turkish pop star Ajda Pekkan—whose Turkish-language version of the song is titled “Uykusuz her Gece”). But Amii Stewart isn’t strictly an album of dance grooves, and she shows her more laid-back side on the mid-tempo “You to Me” and the smooth ballad “Once Again.” In addition to producing and arranging Amii Stewart and playing guitar and synthesizers, Boswell wrote “Say Goodbye to Love” and co-wrote “Working Late Tonight.” 

Two of the songs on Amii Stewart—“Sweet Emotion” (not to be confused with Aerosmith’s hard rock classic from 1975) and “You to Me”—were written by Pete Bellotte and Sylvester Levay and were originally recorded by the late Donna Summer in 1981 for her I’m a Rainbow album. Produced by Bellotte, Giorgio Moroder and Harold Faltermeyer, I’m a Rainbow was meant to be the follow-up to Summer’s hit 1980 album, The Wanderer. But Geffen Records ended up shelving I’m a Rainbow, and not until 1996 did it finally see the light of day commercially. So in 1983, this album was the first exposure that many Europeans had to “You to Me” and “Sweet Emotion.”

Bellotte and Moroder were two of the most important names in dance music in the 1970s and 1980s. They were instrumental in Summer’s rise to stardom, and together, they produced “Love to Love You, Baby,” “Hot Stuff,” “Try Me, I Know We Can Make It,” “Last Dance,” “I Feel Love,” “Dim All the Lights” and many other classics for the Queen of Disco. During a June 4, 2015 interview, Bellotte (who is now 71) fondly remembered co-writing “Sweet Emotion,” “You to Me” and the song “Romeo” with Levay in 1981. “Romeo” isn’t one of the Bellotte/Levay songs that Stewart recorded in 1983, but it was in 1983 that Summer’s version ended up on the soundtrack for the hit movie Flashdance (starring Jennifer Beals).

“The songs were written specifically for Donna Summer in late 1981 at my studio just outside of Munich, Germany just before I returned to live in England again,” Bellotte explains. “Of course, every writing process differs. But this session I remember particularly well, as it was my first writing collaboration with Sylvester Levay. For all three songs written that day—including ‘Romeo,’ which was used in Flashdance—we used the Linn Drum for basic beats, Sylvester on my brand new Yamaha Electric Grand Piano C80 and me singing the melodies on top of the chord progressions of each song. Then we finished off the demos with the Jupiter 8—pre-MIDI—and I then added some guitar. The next couple of days I spent writing the lyrics and singing the top line—and then, I flew to L.A. to play them for Donna. ‘You to Me’ happens to be one of my favorite songs that I’ve had the pleasure of writing.”

Stewart, over the years, has been as popular in Europe as she is in the United States—if not more popular. Interviewed on June 17, 2015, Italian musician Stefano Senesi (who played synthesizers on this album) reflected on her ongoing popularity in Europe. Senesi recalls: “Donna Summer had much success in Europe in the late 1970s working with Giorgio Moroder, creating an original sound and vocal style for the times—and Amii Stewart came in on the tails of that sound and style with her cover of the worldwide rhythm & blues hit ‘Knock on Wood,’ which was arranged electronically. It was one of the most listened-to recordings in Europe, and from that moment on, Amii was recognized as a grand artist in Italy.”

Senesi asserts that working with Boswell and Stewart on this album 32 years ago was an excellent learning experience. “That period of collaboration with Simon Boswell, along with Amii Stewart, was very formative for me as a musician because it gave me the opportunity to work with other great international musicians,” Senesi explains. “Simon is a great person and a great musician. Beautiful memories!”

In 2015, Stewart (who is now 59) continues to make Italy her adopted home and maintains a busy schedule. She has much to be proud of, and as this reissue demonstrates, 1983 was a productive year for the versatile singer.

—Alex Henderson, June 2015

Alex Henderson’s work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, Salon.com, Creem, The L.A. Weekly, AlterNet, JazzTimes, Jazziz, The Raw Story, Cash Box, HITS, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Beat, The Pasadena Weekly, Black Radio Exclusive (BRE), Music Connection, The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Inside Magazine and many other well-known publications. Henderson (alexvhenderson.com) also contributed several thousand CD reviews to the popular Allmusic.com website and The All Music Guide’s series of music reference books.