Joy is the tenth studio album by R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass

Teddy Pendergrass

Theodore DeReese "Teddy" Pendergrass was an American R&B/soul singer and songwriter. Pendergrass first rose to fame as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in the 1970s before a successful solo career at the end of the decade...

, released in 1988 on the Elektra

Elektra Records

Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....

 label. Production credits on the album were split between Reggie and Vincent Calloway, Nick Martinelli

Nick Martinelli

Nick Martinelli is an American R&B and pop record producer. He worked with many R&B and pop music artists during the 1980s, many of which were based in the UK. The acts he worked with include Loose Ends, Five Star, Stephanie Mills and Regina Belle....

, Miles Jaye

Miles Jaye

Miles Jaye Davis, known professionally as Miles Jaye, is an American R&B and jazz singer, violinist, songwriter, and record producer. He had several hits on the US R&B chart in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the biggest of which was "Let's Start Love Over" in 1987.-Life and career:He was born in...

 and Pendergrass himself.

Joy peaked at #54 on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 and #2 on the R&B chart

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...

, Pendergrass' highest placing on this chart since 1979's #1 album Teddy

Teddy (album)

Teddy was the third album by R&B crooner Teddy Pendergrass, released on June 23, 1979. It included more "bedroom ballads," comparable to Marvin Gaye's Midnight Love.-Reception:...

. The album also spawned two top 3 R&B singles

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 in the chart-topping title track

Joy (Teddy Pendergrass song)

"Joy" is a 1988 single by Teddy Pendergrass. The single became Teddy Pendergrass' first number one on the Black Singles chart in ten years, where it stayed for two weeks. The single was also his first solo entry on the Hot 100 in seven years.. "Joy" also peaked at number forty-two on the dance...

 (Pendergrass' second solo R&B #1, following "Close the Door

Close the Door

"Close the Door" was a hit song for Teddy Pendergrass in 1978 and written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. It spent two weeks at number one on the R&B chart and peaked at number twenty-five on the Billboard Hot 100. . It was released from his second solo album, Life Is a Song Worth Singing. In 2002...

" in 1978) and "2 A.M." (#3). It was also the only solo Pendergrass album to reach the top 50 in the UK

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

.

Track listing

1. "Joy" (Reggie Calloway, Vincent Calloway, Joel Davis) – 6:18
2. "2 A.M" (James S. Carter, Kevin J. Askins, Marvin Hammett) – 5:25
3. "Good to You" (Miles Jaye) – 5:13
4. "I'm Ready" (Jaye) – 5:12
5. "Love Is the Power" (Calloway, Calloway, Davis) – 6:16
6. "This Is the Last Time" (Gabriel Hardeman, Annette Hardeman) – 6:27
7. "Through the Falling Rain (Love Story)" (Carter, Askins, Hammett) – 4:58
8. "Can We Be Lovers" (Carter, Freddie Williams) – 5:29

Personnel

• Teddy Pendergrass – lead vocals
• Charlene Hollaway, Cynthia Biggs, Annette Hardeman, Elizabeth Hogue, Tenita Jordan – backing vocals
• Gene Robinson, Jeff Lee Johnson, Randy Bowland, William "Doc" Powell – guitar
• Miles Jaye – bass guitar, percussion, synthesizers, violin
• Joel Davis – keyboards
• Jerry Hey
  Jerry Hey
  Jerry Hey is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Thriller and the distinctive flugelhorn solo on Dan Fogelberg's hit Longer....
  
  , Gary Grant – trumpet
• Bill Reichenbach Jr. – trombone
• Marc Russo – saxophone
• Daryl Burgee, J. T. Lewis – drums
• Randy Cantor – synthesizers, strings
• Douglas Grigsby III, Tom Barney – bass guitar
• Donald Robinson – Rhodes, piano
• John "Skip" Anderson – electric piano