Something Special is the fifteenth studio album by the funk band Kool and the Gang, released in 1981

1981 in music

See also:* Timeline of musical eventsThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1981.-January–April:*January 10 – A revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance opens at Broadway's Uris Theatre, starring Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith.*January 24 –...

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Reception

While it did not live up to the huge success that the band's previous two albums brought, it still contained two hit singles: "Take My Heart

Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It)

"Take My Heart " is a 1981 single by Kool & the Gang from their album, Something Special. The single was the group sixth number-one R&B single, reaching the top of the U.S. R&B chart for a single week...

" went to #1 on the R&B chart and #17 on the Pop chart. "Get Down On It

Get Down on It

"Get Down on It" is a song originally recorded by the funk/R&B/pop band Kool & The Gang on their album Something Special in 1981. The song reached number 10 on the Billboard charts in early 1982, displaying some of the characteristics of a blend of pop and funk, with the title of the song repeating...

" reached #4 on the R&B chart and #10 on the Pop chart. In addition, "Steppin' Out" ended up at #12 on the R&B chart and #89 on the Pop chart. In the UK, the album reached #10, becoming their first hit album there and most successful studio album of all, largely due to the success of the "Get Down On It" single.

Samples

The song "Be My Lady" has since been sampled prominently in the hit song by Chili Hi Fly "Is It Love" in the year 2000.

Track listing

Personnel

• Bass, backing vocals – Robert "Kool" Bell
• Lead Guitar – Charles Smith
  Claydes Charles Smith
  Claydes Charles Smith was an American musician best known as co-founder and lead guitarist of the group Kool & the Gang.Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he was introduced to jazz guitar by his father in the early 1960s...
  
  
• Saxophone, keyboards, backing vocals – Ronald Bell
  Ronald Bell (musician)
  Ronald Bell, also known by his Arabic name Khalis Bayyan is an American saxophonist, composer, songwriter, arranger, producer and singer, who was a founding member of the band, Kool & the Gang...
  
  
• Drums, backing vocals – George Brown
• Lead and backing vocals – James "J.T." Taylor
• Alto saxophone – Dennis Thomas
• Alto saxophone, flute, backing vocals – Steve Greenfield
• Trombone – Clifford Adams
• Trumpet, backing vocals – Michael Ray, Robert Mickens
• Keyboards – Brian Jackson
• Keyboards – Eumir Deodato
  Eumir Deodato
  Eumir Deodato is a Brazilian pianist, composer, record producer and arranger, primarily based in the jazz realm but who historically has been known for eclectic melding of big band and combo jazz with varied elements of rock/pop, R&B/funk, Brazilian/Latin, and symphonic or orchestral music.Mainly,...
  
  
• Additional percussion – Jimmy Maelen
• Additional handclaps – Platinum Hook
• Backing vocals – Clifford Adams, Cynthia Huggins, Joan Motley, Kelly Barretto

Production

• Engineer – Jim Bonnefond
• Assistant engineers – Bobby Scott Cohen, Cliff Hodson, Joe DeAngelis, Julian Robertson
• Overdubs engineers – Bob "Ziggy" Winard, Mallory Earl
• Mixed by – Eumir Deodato, Jim Bonnefond, Gabe Vigorito
• Mastered by – Tom Coyne, Stephan Galfas (Assistant)
• Producer – Eumir Deodato
• Associate producer – Kool & The Gang

Charts

Chart (1981)	Peak position
Billboard Pop Albums 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...	12
Billboard Top Soul Albums 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...	1
UK Albums Chart	10

Singles

Year	Single	US chart positions			UK chart positions
		Hot 100 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...	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,...	Dance
1981	"Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It)"	17	1	16	29
1982	"Get Down On It"	10	4	—	3
	"Steppin' Out"	89	12	—	12