Skipworth and Turner

Skipworth & Turner - Thinking About Your Love (1985)
Eighties singing duo Skipworth & Turner burst on the scene with the catchy dance hit "Thinking About Your Love." Produced by Patrick Adams (Musique, Inner Life, the 1980 hit disco remake "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" on Salsoul Records), "Thinking About Your Love" hit number ten R&B on Billboard's charts in spring 1985.

Syracuse, NY-born keyboardist Rodney Skipworth and singer Phil Turner, a Memphis native, were a startling combination that came together at a unique period that allowed for the fusing of the duo's gospel/R&B/soul influences with the emerging MIDI/keyboard synthesizer technology, the same synergy that lead to the creation of some exciting, trailblazing music epitomized by such groups as the System. Though Skipworth & Turner's only other charting single was "Can't Give Her Up" (on which Turner displays his impressive falsetto range) at number 63 R&B, they recorded some outstanding tracks that range from smokin' dance tracks to heart-melting ballads.

The debut LP Skipworth and Turner, which the duo shared production credits with Adams and Philly soul keyboardist/producer Ron Kersey (the Trammps' "Disco Inferno"), was released by Warner Bros. in the summer of 1986. Besides the two charting singles, the album's highlights are Kersey's Latin-tinged "Wont Get No Better," "Let Me Down Easy," and the instrumental "Nepenthe." The mid-tempo groover "Make It Last," co-written by Raymond Earl and Kim Miller of Instant Funk, was included on the duo's Harlem Nights LP, released by 4th and Broadway.

The propulsive "Someday You'll Come Back to Me" has influences gleamed from their '80s contemporaries the System. The tender ballad "How Much Is Too Much" was written and produced by frequent Adams collaborator Leroy Burgess (Black Ivory, Phreek, Herbie Mann) and originally on Harlem Nights - Ed Hogan