The Top 30 Yacht Rock Dabblers

Once Yacht Rock proved itself to be a commercial force in the music industry the late '70s with songs by Christopher Cross and Doobie Brothers topping the charts, the floodgates opened. Several long-established artists decided to try their hand at the genre, many even going as far as hiring YR regulars to write, produce, and play on their records. As follows is a survey of some of the most notable Yacht Rock Dabblers.

First let's talk about some of the artists that were what I like to call "Tangentially Yacht Rock." They made quite a few YR songs over a span of years, but not quite enough for them to make it into the upper echelon of YR Artists:

• Keyboardist George Duke, with 13 songs on the Yachtski scale between 1978 and 1983. By the ratings, he would actually be #25 on the list of Top Yacht Rock Artists. But his career was just too eclectic to pigeonhole him as YR.
• The Pointer Sisters are in a similar situation, with 13 songs between 1978 and 1983, but a career that bookended YR.
• Fusion jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour, with eight songs between 1981 and 1986
• Johnny Mathis, with eight songs between 1978 and 1985. 
• Dionne Warwick, with eight songs between 1979 and 1987.
• Ray Parker, Jr., with seven songs from 1979 to 1984 (including "You Can't Change That")
• Earth, Wind and Fire, with six songs between 1975 and 1981 (including "After the Love Has Gone," of course)
• Bill Withers, with four songs between 1977 and 1985 (including "Just the Two of Us" and "Lovely Day")
• Deniece Williams, with four songs between 1978 and 1983 (including one we'll discuss below)

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There are other artists who committed themselves to the YR sound for one album (or the majority of one album). We discussed Lionel Richie in our Top 20 Yacht Rock Albums list, but here are some more for your consideration:

• Carly Simon - A dabbler before it was cool or lucrative, Simon recruited Michael McDonald and the Doobie Brothers to help out on her 1976 album Another Passenger. This included a cover of "It Keeps You Runnin'" that came out a few months before the Doobies version.
• Dusty Springfield - Another early adopter, Dusty Springfield had David Foster, Brenda Russell, Jay Graydon, Neil Larson, and Lenny Castro on her 1979 album Living Without Your Love.
• Aretha Franklin - The Queen of Soul covered "What a Fool Believes" on her 1980 album Aretha, and then went full YR on the 1981 follow-up Love All The Hurt Away. That album featured David Foster, George Benson, Paulinho da Costa, Greg Phillinganes, David Paich, Buzz Feiten, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, and Rod Temperton (whew!).
• Elton John used YR players (including most of Toto) on two albums, 21 and 33 (1980) and The Fox (1981) but the Yacht or Nyacht guys only give him credit for "Give Me the Love" on the former.
• Dolly Parton's 1980 album Dolly Dolly Dolly was produced by Michael Omartian and featured Jeff Porcaro, Jay Graydon, Lenny Castor, David Hungate, and Buzz Feiten
• Michael Jackson - Is Thriller a YR album? The Yacht or Nyacht guys classify at least half of the album (including "Human Nature," "Baby Be Mine", and "P.Y.T.") as such. It checks a lot of the boxes, but for those of us who grew up with the album, it's a bit hard to reorient our thinking that way.
• Juice Newton - Newton's fifth album, Dirty Looks, was released in 1983 and features Marc Jordan, Kerry Chater, David Foster, Tom Scott, and Tom Kelly.
• Paul Anka - The former teen idol's 1983 album Walk a Fine Line features David Foster, Jay Graydon, Michael McDonald, Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather, and Paulinho da Costa.
• Diana Ross - Like Anka, Diana Ross went all-in on YR for a single 1983 album, Ross. She recruited Steely Dan producer Gary Katz to handle the majority of the album, which featured players Jeff Porcaro, Greg Phillinganes, and Ray Parker, Jr. Michael McDonald, Marc Jordan, and Donald Fagen all contributed songs, as well.
• Kenny Rogers - Though late to the game, Rogers's 1984 album What About Me? has David Foster, James Ingram, and Michael Landeau. It also has the fifth different YR song to be titled "Heart to Heart" (Kenny Loggins, Pointer Sisters, Bobby King, and Greg Guidry were responsible for the others).

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Our final category is those artists who just dipped their toes into YR for a single song. Teenybopper Shaun Cassidy made the interesting choice to cover Bill LaBounty's "Lie To Me" on his third album, Under Wraps (1978). The most prolific dabbler this side of Bowie - Prince - tried his hand at YR with "My Love Is Forever" on his second album For You (1979). The Jacksons tested the YR waters with "Give It Up" in 1980.

Sheena Easton's "So Much In Love," from her 1981 debut - doesn't have any YR players involved, but still made the list. Similarly, Cheryl Ladd (one of Charlie's Angels and one of Josie's Pussycats) 1981 tune "Victim of the Circumstance" doesn't appear to have any YR bonafides, but still netted an impressive Yachtski score. The Carpenters' undeniable "(Want You) Back In My Life Again" (1981) was co-written by YR vet Kerry Chater.

Dan Fogelberg got into the YR game with "Missing You" in 1982. Exercise guru Richard Simmons made a 1982 attempt at a pop career, and included the YR tune "Live It" on his debut album. Neil Diamond used YR players for both 1982's Heartlight and 1984's Primitive but his signature style resisted being YR-ified except on the title track to the former. Disco hitmaker Thelma Houston ("Don't Leave Me This Way") put out a YR ode to "Handsome Dudes" in 1983, and the Commodores tried to get back some of that Lionel Richie mojo with "Welcome Home" the same year.

Though she didn't use any YR Regulars on her 1983 album A Little Good News, Anne Murry did do songs from Kenny Loggins and Randy Goodrum. It was "When I Can't Have You," however, that made the Yachtski list. And finally, even the Chairman of the Board himself wasn't above trying to jump on the YR bandwagon. Frank Sinatra's "L.A. Is My Lady" was produced and co-written by Quincy Jones, and appeared on Sinatra's second-to-last album.

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Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the wider influence of YR on popular culture. I'm sure there are lots of examples I haven't bothered to seek out, but I would like to focus on how YR came to TV and movies. 

YR didn't burn up the box office, but several movies from this time period have YR-heavy soundtracks, including 1981's Arthur and the 1982 Ron Howard film Night Shift. Side 2 of the Stayin' Alive soundtrack features several YR contributions from Frank Stallone (Sly's brother), affirming the YR-disco connection.

YR's presence on TV was more pronounced. In a 1981 episode of SCTV, Rick Moranis's lounge singer parody character Tom Monroe performed a YR version of Petula Clark's "Downtown" (Moranis released a very funny album full of these types of mash-ups, You, Me, and the Music, in 1989). And then there were the theme songs. We start with the MVP, "Believe It Or Not," the theme to 1981-1983's The Greatest American Hero. Sung by Joey Scarbury, it was leagues better than the show it was written for. Not far behind in the TV Theme Hall of Fame is "Without Us," the Johnny Mathis-Deniece Williams duet that opened Family Ties (1982-1989). And then we have Al Jarreau's theme for Moonlighting, the 1985-1989 show starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard. Though not as big of a hit as "Believe It Or Not," the song did make it to #23 on the U.S. charts.

On the more ignominious side there are a couple of tunes from failed shows. The short-lived late night talk show Thicke of the Night (1983-84) featured a theme song that host Alan Thicke co-wrote with Jay Graydon and David Foster. Despite its pedigree it sounds to me more like a Survivor song than a YR song (though there is a rare Al Jarreau version that is much more Yachty). And then we have the Ray Parker Jr. theme for Richard Pryor's short-lived, Sid-and-Marty-Kroft produced Saturday morning kid's show, Pryor's Place. Not a bad song, but the show only lasted 13 episodes.