Kashif (musician)
Encyclopedia
Kashif Saleem is an American
multi-instrumentalist
, singer, songwriter
and record producer
.
. He played synthesizer bass using the miniMoog
while touring with the group. After leaving the band in the early 1980s, Kashif recorded demos
with the band Stepping Stone, which led to his eventual solo signing with Arista Records
.
Introduced to Arista by Gerry Griffith, its A&R
director in 1983, his self-titled debut Kashif (1983) spawned the hits "I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)," "Stone Love," "Help Yourself to My Love," and "Say Something Love." With this release, Kashif was well received as an innovator in music, as R&B artists were only beginning to experiment with synthesizers and other electronic instruments. He is said to have been Arista Records
' attempt to respond to Warner Bros. Records
' Prince
.
His other albums include Send Me Your Love and Condition of the Heart. On the album Love Changes, Exposé provided background vocals. 1989's Kashif, with the cover of the Four Tops' hit "Ain't No Woman Like the One I Got," "Baby Don't Break Your Baby's Heart," and "Are You the Woman."
As an in-demand writer/producer, Kashif can be heard on releases by Kenny G
, George Benson
, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Johnny Kemp
, Melba Moore
, Dionne Warwick
, Giorge Pettus, Stacy Lattisaw
, Exposé, The Wootens, Freda Payne
, Whitney Houston
, and others. His Grammy nominations are for the instrumentals "The Mood," "Call Me Tonight," "Edgartown Groove" featuring Al Jarreau
, and "The Movie Song."
In 1994, Kashif received an invitation from the U.C.L.A. Extension program and created a course called Contemporary Record Production with Kashif. In August 1995, Kashif authored a book entitled Everything You'd Better Know About the Record Industry, as CEO of his Los Angeles
-based Brooklyn Boy Books, Entertainment, and Information. In 1998, Kashif signed with U.K. label Expansion Records and his album Who Loves You was released that same year.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
.
Career
Kashif became well-known from playing keyboards in the renowned funk band B.T. ExpressB.T. Express
B.T. Express was an American funk/disco group, that had a number of successful songs during the 1970s.-Career:...
. He played synthesizer bass using the miniMoog
Minimoog
The Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. It was released in 1970 by R.A. Moog Inc. , and production was stopped in 1981. It was re-designed by Robert Moog in 2002 and released as Minimoog Voyager.The Minimoog was designed in response to the use of...
while touring with the group. After leaving the band in the early 1980s, Kashif recorded demos
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
with the band Stepping Stone, which led to his eventual solo signing with Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
.
Introduced to Arista by Gerry Griffith, its A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
director in 1983, his self-titled debut Kashif (1983) spawned the hits "I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)," "Stone Love," "Help Yourself to My Love," and "Say Something Love." With this release, Kashif was well received as an innovator in music, as R&B artists were only beginning to experiment with synthesizers and other electronic instruments. He is said to have been Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
' attempt to respond to Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
' Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
.
His other albums include Send Me Your Love and Condition of the Heart. On the album Love Changes, Exposé provided background vocals. 1989's Kashif, with the cover of the Four Tops' hit "Ain't No Woman Like the One I Got," "Baby Don't Break Your Baby's Heart," and "Are You the Woman."
As an in-demand writer/producer, Kashif can be heard on releases by Kenny G
Kenny G
Kenneth Bruce Gorelick , better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American, adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Johnny Kemp
Johnny Kemp
Johnny Kemp is a Bahamian R&B singer and dancer. He began singing in nightclubs in the Bahamas at 13. He moved to New York in 1979 with the band "Kinky Fox." His self-titled debut album came out in 1986 and he scored a minor hit with "Just Another Lover." True success came the following year,...
, Melba Moore
Melba Moore
Beatrice Melba Smith , known by her stage name, Melba Moore is an American disco, R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of saxophonist Teddy Hill and R&B singer Bonnie Davis.-Early life:...
, Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
, Giorge Pettus, Stacy Lattisaw
Stacy Lattisaw
Stacy Lattisaw is an American R&B, dance, and gospel singer. Since the 1990s, she has exclusively sung gospel music, as a callback to her Christian roots.-Career:...
, Exposé, The Wootens, Freda Payne
Freda Payne
Freda Charcilia Payne Some sources give a birth year of 1945, but this appears to be an error as all sources agree that she is older than her sister Scherrie, born 1944. is an American singer and actress best known for her million selling, 1970 hit single, "Band of Gold". She was also an actress in...
, Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
, and others. His Grammy nominations are for the instrumentals "The Mood," "Call Me Tonight," "Edgartown Groove" featuring Al Jarreau
Al Jarreau
Alwin "Al" Lopez Jarreau is a seven-time Grammy Award winning jazz singer.- Background :Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, the fifth of six children. His web site refers to Reservoir, Inc., the name of the street where he lived. His father was a Seventh-Day Adventist Church minister and singer, and...
, and "The Movie Song."
In 1994, Kashif received an invitation from the U.C.L.A. Extension program and created a course called Contemporary Record Production with Kashif. In August 1995, Kashif authored a book entitled Everything You'd Better Know About the Record Industry, as CEO of his Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based Brooklyn Boy Books, Entertainment, and Information. In 1998, Kashif signed with U.K. label Expansion Records and his album Who Loves You was released that same year.
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Record label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 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... |
US R&B 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... |
|||||
| 1983 | Kashif | 54 | 10 | Arista Arista Records Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records... |
||
| 1984 | Send Me Your Love | 51 | 3 | |||
| 1985 | Condition of the Heart | 144 | 32 | |||
| 1987 | Love Changes | 118 | 17 | |||
| 1989 | Kashif | — | 29 | |||
| 1998 | Who Loves You? | — | — | Expansion Expansion Records Expansion Records is a British record label founded by Northern soul DJ Richard Searling and Soul Bowl owner John Anderson. In 1989 DJ, Author & Journalist Ralph Tee joined the label, which both he and Searling run to this day.-Label history:... |
||
| 2004 | Music from My Mind | — | — | Brooklyn Boy | ||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | ||||||
Compilation albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Record label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 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... |
US R&B 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... |
|||||
| 1992 | The Best of Kashif | — | — | Arista Arista Records Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records... /BMG |
||
| 1998 | The Definitive Collection | — | — | Arista | ||
| 2002 | The Best of Kashif | — | — | BMG | ||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | ||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US R&B 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,... |
US Dance |
US A/C |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
|||
| 1983 | "I Just Gotta Have You (Lover Turn Me On)" | 103 | 5 | 28 | — | 79 | Kashif (1983 album) |
| "Stone Love" | — | 22 | — | — | — | ||
| "Help Yourself to My Love" | — | 28 | — | — | — | ||
| "Say Something Love" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1984 | "Baby Don't Break Your Baby's Heart" | 108 | 6 | 40 | — | — | Send Me Your Love |
| "Are You the Woman" | — | 25 | — | — | — | ||
| 1985 | "Ooh Love" | — | 75 | — | — | — | |
| "Love on the Rise" (with Kenny G Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick , better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American, adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986... ) |
— | 24 | — | — | 87 | Gravity | |
| "Condition of the Heart" | — | 34 | — | — | — | Condition of the Heart | |
| 1986 | "Dancing in the Dark (Heart to Heart)" | — | 36 | — | — | — | |
| "Love the One I'm With (A Lot of Love)" (with Melba Moore Melba Moore Beatrice Melba Smith , known by her stage name, Melba Moore is an American disco, R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of saxophonist Teddy Hill and R&B singer Bonnie Davis.-Early life:... ) |
— | 5 | — | — | — | A Lot of Love | |
| 1987 | "Reservations for Two" (with Dionne Warwick Dionne Warwick Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health.... ) |
62 | 20 | — | 7 | — | Love Changes |
| "Love Changes" (with Meli'sa Morgan Meli'sa Morgan Meli'sa Morgan is an African American R&B singer born in Queens, New York who had a string of urban contemporary and house music hits in the 1980s and 1990s. She got her start in the music industry whilst singing with a church gospel choir called the Starlets of Corona... ) |
— | 2 | — | — | — | ||
| 1988 | "Love Me All Over" | — | 14 | — | — | — | |
| "Loving You Only" | — | 66 | — | — | — | ||
| "I'm in Love" (with Melba Moore) | — | 13 | — | — | — | I'm in Love | |
| 1989 | "Personality" | — | 6 | — | — | — | Kashif (1989 album) |
| 1990 | "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got) Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got) "Ain't No Woman " is a 1973 hit single written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, released as a single by the Four Tops on the ABC/Dunhill record label, from the album Keeper of the Castle.... " |
— | 33 | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart | |||||||