Red Hot Rhythm & Blues

Red Hot Rhythm and Blues is a 1987 studio album by the American singer Diana Ross released via EMI and RCA labels.

Overview

The album made the charts in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, as well as reaching the top 20 in Sweden and Norway. It was Ross's final album for RCA Records. It peaked at No. 73 on the "Billboard album chart in the US despite an Emmy nominated television special that was a ratings success. It sold around 125,000 copies in the USA.

The album included the Top 15 US R&B and UK Top 50 hit, "Dirty Looks", written by Richard Scher & Lotti Golden, and the ballad "It's Hard for Me to Say", produced by Luther Vandross. It also included cover versions of several R&B classics, including The Bobbettes' "Mr. Lee", Jackie Ross' "Selfish One," Etta James' "Tell Mama", and The Drifters' "There Goes My Baby". A Shep Pettibone remix of "Shockwaves" was released as a single in the UK which peaked at #76.

The album was promoted with a TV special featuring Etta James, Little Richard, Billy Dee Williams, Leslie Nielsen, LL Cool J, Bernadette Peters and Wolfman Jack. The tracks "Mr Lee" and "Tell Mama" did not feature on the US version of the album and the mix of "Dirty Looks" was the UK version which differs from the US version.