Chinese Wall (album)
Chinese Wall is the third solo album by Philip Bailey, released on the Columbia Records label in October 1984. Chinese Wall has been certified gold in the US on March 11, 1985. The album reached number 22 and number 10 on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts respectively and it was ranked as the 63rd most successful album of 1985 on the Billboard 200. In 1986 the album gave Bailey a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male, while "Easy Lover", the duet with Phil Collins, earned a nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals.
Background
According to remarks by Phil Collins, "Bailey got a lot of flak for being produced by someone who is white. There was this paranoia that the album would not be played by black stations...The reason I was on the video for "Easy Lover" is that I knew it wouldn't be shown if it was just Phil Bailey."Track listing
Personnel
- Philip Bailey – lead and backing vocals, percussion
- Carl Carwell – backing vocals
- Phil Collins – drums, vocoder, LinnDrum, Simmons, keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals, percussion
- Paulinho da Costa – percussion
- Rahmlee Michael Davis – trumpet
- Nathan East – bass guitar, bass pedals, kalimba, keyboards
- Winston Ford – backing vocals
- Michael Harris – trumpet, trumpet solo
- Josie James – backing vocals
- Arif Mardin – string arrangements
- Nigel Martinez – backing vocals
- George Massenburg – synthesizer programming
- The Phenix Horns – horns
- Don Myrick – saxophone, sax solo
- Louis Satterfield – trombone
- Daryl Stuermer – guitar, guitar solo
- Tom-Tom 84 – horn arrangements
- Godfrey Wang – synthesizer programming
- Lesette Wilson – keyboards, acoustic piano solo
Production
- Producer – Phil Collins
- Engineer – George Massenburg
- Assistant Engineers – Steve Chase, Judy Clapp, Murray Dvorkin and Tom Perry.
- Art Direction and Design – Tony Lane and Nancy Donald
- Cover Photography – Ellen Land-Weber and Randee St. Nicholas
- Management – Cavallo, Ruffalo and Fargnoli Management.
Uses in Other Media
Charts and certifications
Album — weekly charts| Chart | Peak position |
| Australian Albums | 13 |
Album – year-end charts
| Chart | Position |
| US Billboard 200 | 63 |
Certifications
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
| 1984 | "Easy Lover" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 2 |
| 1984 | "Easy Lover" | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 3 |
| 1984 | "Easy Lover" | Mainstream Rock Songs | 5 |
| 1985 | "Easy Lover" | Adult Contemporary | 15 |
| 1985 | "Easy Lover" | Dance Club Songs | 7 |
| 1985 | "Easy Lover" | Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | 3 |
| 1985 | "Easy Lover" | UK Singles | 1 |
| 1984 | "Photogenic Memory" | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 61 |
| 1985 | "Walking on the Chinese Wall" | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 56 |
| 1985 | "Walking on the Chinese Wall" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 46 |